Bkground color tool

[Lea]

I'm a little behind on noticing this and I also try not to be "the old way was better" guy... buuuut the Background color tool being relocated in the customizer is really a hassle. It just makes for a lot of extra clicking. Any way Zazzle would consider moving it back in with the layers? Thanks!

[Fiona]

Hey Lea,

Thanks for the feedback.

I will pass this on.

-Fiona😄

[8PawsStudio]

@Lea I totally agree.

The increase in clicks/time/effort is especially noticeable on double-sided products and products like bunting with many layers.

From a hierarchy POV Background makes sense as a separate sidebar tool if the product only has one layer, but if the product has multiple layers, e.g., front and back, it feels like the background belongs as a component of the layer vs a sidebar tool.

I could see Background in the sidebar, if it had more macro control over the design. For example, if you were able to choose a background and apply it to front and back at the same time, that would be an improvement over the previous behavior where the background is part of each layer. Using the extreme example of bunting with 16 layers, it would be wonderful to be able to apply the same background to all of the flags at once, or even better, to select a subset of flags and apply the background in one step, e.g., odd number flags in red, even number flags in white. And then, if you wanted to create another product in blue and white, it would be a much simpler modification vs the old way.  @Fiona would you be able to pass this idea along as well? thanks!

As @Connie mentioned here https://community.zazzle.com/t5/ideas-suggestions/continuous-update-list/idi-p/158391, there was no announcement about this. Usually when Zazzle makes a change like this, the benefits are explained, so I am hoping that this change is actually a step to something better, because right now it is not an improvement in the design process IMO.

[Lea]

I agree that background essentially is the bottom layer, so not having it in with the layers feels counterintuitive. And I also agree that there's usually a reason, so if nothing else, hopefully we can get a little more context for the why.

[ColsCreations]

I'm not so sure it's more clicks this way? Before, when it was in the Layers panel, you still had to click the sub-section inside that layer to open the Background picker. Now, you still have to click to open the picker, you're just clicking in a different place.

My beef with the Background picker, both before and still now, is that once you click it you're trapped there, the only way to get back to working on the layer is to click the Layers tab again. It would be much more convenient if the Background picker opened inside the layer panel, dropping open & collapsing like any other layer. It's maddening that it transports you out of the layer you're working on and you have to click Layers to find yourself again.

My complaint with it now being on the main menu instead of in the Layers is that it's disorienting. There's nothing in the Background picker panel that says which layer it's being applied to. And depending on the design, there is no way to tell what background you have applied to a layer unless you click the Background option from the main menu and then click Layers again to go back to where you were.

Sometimes we apply a background color even if our design entirely covers the canvas. A just-in-case measure in event the bleed lines are off or the customer moves things around. In this example I've applied a solid black background color to the layer but there is no way of knowing that I even applied a background unless I click the Background option on the main menu to check. And then I have to click Layers again to get back to editing.

Having to go outside the layer just to see what if any background you applied to it isn't user-friendly.