Unsung utilities: DigitalColor Meter

When you first set up a new Mac, you probably spend some time digging through the Applications folder and trying out the software that comes standard on your new Mac. But maybe you don’t venture into the inky depths of the Utilities folder. If that’s the case, then you’re missing out: it’s full of handy apps whose praises remain largely unsung.

Today, one of my favorites: DigitalColor Meter. It’s an app whose functions you probably won’t need unless you’re a web developer, designer, or someone else concerned with onscreen colors, but if you fall into one of those categories—or you’re just a curious kind of person—it’s definitely worth a whirl.

If you’ve ever used the eyedropper tool in Photoshop or pretty much any image programs, you’ll “get” DigitalColor Meter pretty fast. As you pan around the screen, it shows you a zoomed-in view of the screen, along with a real time display of whatever color the cursor is over. You can adjust the aperture size, and pick what format the color is displayed as (RGB, Hex, etc.). Menu commands also let you lock a particular color, or even copy it as a text string or color swatch into another application.

For people who deal with color all day, it’s a godsend when you need to match that particular shade your client wants. For the rest of us, it’s at least a fun way to blow away a few hours minutes of the workday.

Posted by Dan Moren in MacUser