The default Invoice style is fairly barren, as you can see in the example given in the "Invoices" section of this chapter. The default invoice style leaves the top part of the form blank, so that you print on company letterhead paper. However, there are some things you can do to change this default appearance.

If you go to File, Properties, then you can enter your company name and address, which will then be printed on the right hand side of the invoices.

To add a customized background, heading banner or logo to the invoices, modify the invoice style sheets. To do this, go to Edit -> Style Sheets and make a New... style sheet. You will see a window like this:

The New Style Sheet initial window.

You must select the Fancy style sheet template, and choose a name for your new style sheet. The new style sheet will appear in the list to the left. Select it, and now use the tabbed window to the right to make modifications. There are 4 tabs available, Colors, General, Images, and Tables. The Colors tab allows you to change the colors of the various sections of the invoice. The General tab allows you to set the Preparer and Prepared for information, and to enable links. The Images tab allows you to import graphics into the style sheet, such as your company logo. Finally, the Tables tab allows you to adjust the spacing around the tables which make up the invoice.

To create the graphical images, use your favorite graphics application such as The Gimp or OpenOffice Draw, and save the image in either GIF or PNG format. Then import them into the style sheet.

Below is presented a (hideous) example.

The HTML Style Sheets window with an example Background Tile, Heading Banner, and Logo.

The placement of the images in the invoice is as follows. The Background Tile is tiled to become the background image, the Heading Banner goes to above the invoice text, and the Logo is placed in the upper left corner of the invoice to the left of the Heading Banner. You will probably have to try a few different sized images until you get the invoices to print nicely. Some sizing suggestions are that the Logo should be 1 square cm (~0.5 inch), and the Heading Banner should be 15 cm (~6 inches) wide and 1 cm (~0.5 inch) tall.

With the style sheet configured, when you print the invoice, you select the style sheet to use from the Options menu. Below is the resultant invoice after applying the style sheet demonstrated above.

The hideous invoice which results from the graphics selected in the style sheet.