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How To Use Color Picking Tools

By / / How-To, Microsoft Windows

Color Picking Tools

I started needing a color picker when I started using WordPress to develop my department’s website. I needed, at various times, to do the following:

  • Match the color of my organization’s logo
  • Find and use a color that wasn’t immediately available in the theme offerings (and using identification to maintain consistency with that color throughout the site)
  • Sample a color already in existence on the site, (but not knowing what it was)

If you ever need to identify a color’s HEX value or RGB number, and do it quickly, here are two tools to get you through it.

Instant Eyedropper

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Instant Eyedropper is my color picker of choice because it’s fairly unobtrusive, easy to use and has only one objective – to identify a color.

To get a color code:

  • Once installed, look in All Programs, locate and click on Instant Eyedropper and it shows up in your System Tray.

Eyedropper in Tray

  • Right-Click on the Eyedropper icon in the system tray, move up or down in the menu for the type of color code you want to capture and select one
  • Click and hold the Eyedropper icon and drag it to an area where you’d like to identify the color

eyedropper tool on color image

  • Release the mouse button; the clipboard will contain the color code and it can now be pasted
  • I usually right-click the Eyedropper and exit the application when I’m finished using it so it isn’t running in the system tray

For downloading and using Instant Eyedropper, visit this page: http://instant-eyedropper.com/.

ColorPic

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ColorPic is slightly fancier than Instant Eyedropper, but it has the same purpose – when you mouse over any color on your screen, ColorPic shows you the specific mix of red, green, blue (RGB) or Hex value for that spot.

To get a color code:

  • After installation, open the application from your Start Menu
  • Click on one of the squares under where it says Chips in the ColorPic window

colorpic image

  • Hover your cursor over a color on your screen that you want to identify
  • Hit Ctrl + g on your keyboard
  • The color is shown in the middle of the ColorPic window with its identifying information
  • There are a few more advanced features for changing up the color you’ve chosen as well. See ColorPic’s webpage for more info…
  • To create a palette based on colors you want to save for future use, click on New in the Palettes section of the ColorPic window and name a Palette. Do this before you start selecting colors

For downloading and using ColorPic, visit this page: http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/

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