Color Snapper: "The missing color picker for Mac OS X"

http://colorsnapper.com/

by nicksergeant • 15 years ago

47 43 15 years ago

colorsnapper.com

JCB_K• 15 years ago

Looks good - might be an idea to include the price on your page though.

beck5• 15 years ago

Can be an issue with multiple countries, app store website shows €4 but I just paid £3 for it.

I look forward to using it.

Edit - Can't actually get it to stay open for more than 4 seconds. Im running 10.6.6.

problem with the app store no try before you buy ;)

Edit 2 - Seems to work now I launched it from my applications folder rather than the doc where the app store put it.....

terinjokes2• 15 years ago

Off-topic (somewhat) but related to your Edit 2, anyone know if it's possible to disable the "install to dock" functionally of the App Store? I only have applications I want on the dock.

efields• 15 years ago

Hm… Digital Color Meter lives in /Applications/Utilities and works pretty much the same way. Cmd-Shift-C to copy to clipboard.

EDIT: Also, DCM lets you adjust the size of the loupe, which is handy for getting the aggregate when there's a slight variation in pixels (grain textures and the like)

armandososa• 15 years ago

Wow I didn't know DCM existed. Thanks for saving me 3.99 and --more important for me-- precious menubar real estate

zakovyrya• 15 years ago

Yes, but it doesn't make anyone richer.

adsr• 15 years ago

That was what I was thinking. I have set it up to start with ⌘ + § key command.

bradleyland3• 15 years ago

Cool little utility, but €3.99 works out to US$5.50 for me. OS X includes the DigitalColor Meter app by default, which -- as far as I can tell -- has most of the functionality shown here. From what I can tell, the advantages include a global keyboard shortcut and a menubar item, rather than an app window. Can you tell us if there is any other significant difference?

terinjokes2• 15 years ago

From the looks of it, the CSS3 and NSColor/UIColor formats.

stevelosh4• 15 years ago

I bought this app. Here's why it's better than DigitalColor Meter:

* The ability to have a global shortcut to activate it, and it hides nicely in the menu bar when you don't need it.

* The magnification loupe follows your cursor, so you don't have to keep swinging your head back and forth to see where you are.

* You can adjust the size of the loupe.

* You can set two formats for color copying, and use one with Cmd+C and the other with Cmd+Opt+C.

* It keeps a history of colors you've copied.

* It works properly when you screen zoom with Ctrl+Mousewheel.

pak2• 15 years ago

#3 is allowed by DCM. Besides #2 and #6, all of those other features could probably be layered onto DCM with FastScripts (free for up to 10 global hotkeys, http://www.red-sweater.com/fastscripts/) and some trivial little AppleScripts, certainly nothing that couldn't be done in half an hour by anybody reading this site.

I think $5.50 is overkill for a system utility with some trivial extra shortcuts and visual enhancements.

EDIT: re #3, you can change the magnification of the loupe, not its literal size on the screen.

bradleyland3• 15 years ago

Thanks for the feedback. Exactly what I was looking for.

emehrkay2• 15 years ago

Since when did os x have this? I've been using hacks to get the color picker to show up as an app for a very long time. This is an amazing find for me right now, thanks

bradleyland3• 15 years ago

Look for an app named 'DigitalColor Meter' under Applications/Utilities. Not that I'd discourage you from buying this particular utility. It looks very well done.

DTrejo• 15 years ago

Colors by Matt Patenaude is my favorite color picker [it's free!].

http://mattpatenaude.com/

Supports these formats: http://grab.by/9tc3 and also copies to your clipboard with a button http://grab.by/9tcg.

stevelosh4• 15 years ago

I tried Colors for a while (and Pochade, and others), and the part they all suck at is the loupe. They all use that horrible, tiny, OS X default color picker. It barely magnifies things at all, and half the time the mouse pointer is still inside which makes it even harder to use.

This app's loupe is pointer-free and customizably large. It's fantastic!

jcampbell1• 15 years ago

The biggest problem with the built in color meter, is that it puts the '#' in front of the hex color when copying to the keyboard. This makes it impossible to paste in applications that are expecting no more than 6 characters. e.g. #[______] then when you paste you get #[#28382]

I switched to colibri for this reason. Does this application suffer the same drawback?

stevelosh4• 15 years ago

Right now, yes. Myself and several others have tweeted at the developer about it, so hopefully they'll listen and add it. I can't imagine it would be difficult to add to the list of formats.

guywithabike2• 15 years ago

Might want to hold off buying this until they fix the segfault:

    3/14/11 1:56:33 PM	com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[255]	([0x0-0x428428].com.koolesache.ColorSnapper[26028]) Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault

As it stands, I can't launch it at all.

elliotlarson• 15 years ago

Yeah, bummer. I just contacted support about this. Apparently they gave Apple the fix last week but are waiting for them to approve the update. If you're interested in this, hold off for a couple of days.

drivingmenuts• 15 years ago

Having to wait on Apple sounds like a distinct disadvantage. That alone will keep me out of the app store.

lukifer• 15 years ago

Apple's wait time for bug fix approvals is annoying enough when it's a game for your phone. The fact that it can delay fixes for one's day-to-day working tools is completely unacceptable.

jp• 15 years ago

Windows and Linux users can try this one (color logic was done by smarter people than me btw): http://teppefall.com/products/colorspace

I know that the OS X build crashes. People complain about upgrades even when they are not paying.

glenjamin• 15 years ago

I've always used http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php on windows.

netghost• 15 years ago

On a related note, for anyone using TextMate, try hitting Cmd-Shift-C while editing css. It will popup a color picker right there for you. Really handy.

emehrkay2• 15 years ago

I love textmate. Thanks for this tip. There were times where I opened up photoshop just for the color picker!

gandalfar• 15 years ago

Here's a free Hex Color Picker that 'works for me' - http://wafflesoftware.net/hexpicker/

I run it through Alfred - cmd+space -> type "color picker" and it's in the selected pane.

jrockway• 15 years ago

You know something is a bubble when people will pay $5 for xmag.

dchest• 15 years ago

Alternative - Developer Color Picker (plugin for the standard OS X color picker) http://www.panic.com/~wade/picker/

upinsmoke2• 15 years ago

Use Spot Color + Developer Color Picker + Hex Color Picker!

http://zachwaugh.com/spotcolor/ http://www.panic.com/~wade/picker/ http://wafflesoftware.net/hexpicker/

All free plugins using Mac OS X Color Picker.

bugsy2• 15 years ago

It looks like SpotColor has been withdrawn as a free app and is now $5 at the App Store as well.

I recommend checking out iColors which I've been using for years and has the same functionality - http://www.fadingred.com/icolors/

upinsmoke2• 15 years ago

Fork it here. https://github.com/0xced/SpotColor

bugsy2• 15 years ago

I've been using iColors which is a standalone system color picker - http://www.fadingred.com/icolors/

I use it in conjunction with various plugins to said system color picker such as http://wafflesoftware.net/hexpicker/ and http://lithoglyph.com/mondrianum/. It is very nice that the OS X system color picker supports adding plugins to /Library/ColorPickers because then you have support for new color picker panels in every program that uses the System Color Picker.

modality• 15 years ago

You can also make your own with the standard Mac color picker. Open up AppleScript Editor, and type this:

    choose color

From there, File -> Save As, and choose the "Application" file format. Done!

Color Snapper: "The missing color picker for Mac OS X"

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