thanks
Yes I agree that orage transparency is an upstream issue and applies to any distro using xfce.
However selecting a background color for the orage panel clock appears to be related to the default theme in vector linux named elementary-VL and is not associated with the transparency bug
Although I would not consider it reason to postpone a final release, as one can simply select any other available style, it should be confirmed and addressed in the next release.
I have not found a reason for this but have switched style from elementry-VL to several other onboard styles and the default is the only one that prohibits selecting a background color in orage panel clock properties.
I checked a few other xfce distros and although the transparent issue exists there was no issue changing background color.