So, the burning question today on the Web Tech section of the Pisstakers blog is: Windows users, do you still use Photoshop to capture colors?

The correct answer is AdesClrPickr

This is a loaded question that comes from Ades, a mega rich tech and money-making blogger from the Kyrgyz Republic, (that's right, THAT Kyrgyz Republic the favorite holiday destination of the rich and famous).

He knows that the answer for a resounding number of folks tweaking colors on websites is going to be "YES, I am a photoshop junky." But the correct answer should be, "No, I am cool and productive and use a color picker from Ades called AdesClrPicker."

What is AdesClrPicker?

In contrast to his other cool app, the Ades Nose Pickr, a web 2.0 Identikit droplet, the color picker is very easy to use. With a single click of the mouse you will be told the exact hue and tint of a pixel on a screen in either HTML, RGB, C++, VB and Delphi color codes.

You would expect Ades to play up the benefits of such a tiny app, making it out to be better than it actually is, but the color picker has plenty of mini features, proving that good things do come in small packages, all 1MB and change of it.

Color Library

If, like me, you have a terrible memory for 6 digit hexadecimal numbers and you are forever tweaking your site (especially when styling widgets), the Color Library is a useful feature, acting as a store, enabling quick reference to the color codes you use on a regular basis. The Color Library feature also allows you to change your colors and convert from one color to another. See, it isn't just a one-click pony.

A couple of drawbacks

Although I have to concur that this color picker really is a time-saving godsend for site owners and designers, it can't cater for a couple of mini segments of society. For instance:

Not all widgets need styling. MyBlogLog's visitor widget, for instance, is a bit of a fiddle to style, but some designers are so far ahead of the game (did I say Bonsai Studio?) that they code their widgets (did I say Funny Quotes widget?) to auto adapt to any theme, thus making AdesclrPicker obsolete. However, as most of us are left to figure stuff out for ourselves, make sure you have Adesclrpickr to hand for general use.



Windows only. Pah, Ades droplet only caters for 98% of the world. How elitist is that!! But if you have a Mac, don't despair, you have your equivalent StevesMacOSXColorPicker built into the Operating System.



Discloure: I am writing this so that Ades has a link about his product to a PR5 website, I mean, so I get a link back from his PR7 site, I mean, I wrote this to help you guys out.