HPS PixelColor v1.3

HPS PixelColor allows you to view and select the color at any point on the screen. As you move the cursor around the screen, the pixel color under the cursor will be continually updated in the HPS PixelColor window. To aid in picking exactly the right pixel, you can go to the Zoom tab.

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are several commands that you can use when the HPS PixelColor window has the focus (i.e., when it is the active window):

Shortcut Description
Ctrl+C Copies the color under the cursor to the Clipboard. You can then paste the clipboard color into any text or HTML editor.
Ctrl+V Copies the clipboard color to the Palette.
Ctrl+B Copies the color under the cursor to the Mixer tab as the background color.
Ctrl+T Copies the color under the cursor to the Mixer tab as the text color.
+ Zooms in.
- Zooms out.
Ctrl+3 Toggles Sample 3x3 option.
Ctrl+I Toggles Invert color option.
Ctrl+P Toggles Auto copy to Palette option.
Ctrl+U Toggles Uppercase hex option.
Ctrl+W Toggles Snap to web-safe color option.

Named Colors Tab

The Named Colors tab displays the 140 colors and color names supported by browsers. Browsers allow you to specify colors in two ways – by using a color name, or by using a number to denote a red-green-blue (RGB) color value. The Named Colors tab allows you to pick any color on the tab. Move the cursor to the color swatch you want, and then press Ctrl+C. This copies the color to the Clipboard. You can then paste the color into any text or HTML editor.

To see what the named colors look like in your browser, click here.

Safe Colors Tab

The Safe Colors tab displays the 216 web-safe colors originally defined by Netscape and now supported by all browsers. Use of these colors ensures that the web page you design will look the way you want it to look, regardless of which browser is used. The Safe Colors tab allows you to pick any color on the tab. Move the cursor to the color swatch you want, and then press Ctrl+C. This copies the color to the Clipboard. You can then paste the color into any text or HTML editor.

The colors are on the Safe Colors tab are normally sorted by hue, but you can also sort them by RGB value via an option on the Options tab.

To see what the web-safe colors look like in your browser, click here.

RAL Colors Tab

The RAL Colors tab shows the 210 classic RAL colors that have been defined by the German Institute for Quality Assurance and Certification. Since 1927, RAL colors have offered a standardized, numbered, and named approach to the use of colors. This enables manufacturers of paints, wholesalers and retailers, architects, and consumers to work with colors efficently. RAL colors are often specified by government agencies such as police, fire, and postal services, for coatings on vehicles, machinery, and traffic signs.

Note that the visualization of RAL colors on the screen is dependent on the characteristics of the monitor and the graphics card. For accurate color matching, you should use the appropriate RAL color sheet or fan deck.

To see what the RAL colors look like in your browser, click here.

Palette Tab

With a color on the Clipboard, you can press Ctrl+V to paste the color into the Palette. This allows you to store in one place the colors you want to use later. The Palette will be saved when you exit the program and restored on startup. To use one of the Palette colors, move the cursor to the color swatch and press Ctrl+C. You can then paste the color into any text or HTML editor.

When you paste a color into the Palette, you can optionally assign a description to the color. This description will appear when you hover the cursor over the color swatch, to remind you of what the color is used for.

To remove a color from the Palette, click on the color swatch you want to remove, and press Delete. Deleting replaces the color with white, which means "no color".

Zoom Tab

To facilitate the process of selecting colors from the screen, you can use the Zoom tab to magnify the selection area. The hot spot of the cursor is shown on the Zoom tab as a crosshair circle. You can adjust the zoom factor with the "+" and "-" buttons on the Zoom tab, with the combobox on the Options tab, or by using the keyboard keys "+" and "-".

Mixer Tab

The Mixer tab allows you to work with colors that you have selected from the screen, modifying them and seeing how they look with different text and background colors. Three sliders let you adjust the RGB values of the text/background color. Then, you can copy the new color to the Clipboard or to the Palette.

To copy colors into the Mixer tab, use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+B (to copy a background color) and Ctrl+T (to copy a text color).

If you only want to work with the background color, you can select the Auto text color option, which will automatically adjust the text color so that the sample text is always visible.

To see how the colors look in your browser, click on the Preview button.

The buttons Copy to Clipboard and Copy to Palette allow you to export the mixer colors via Clipboard and save them to the Palette. Which color is exported or saved depends on the setting of the Selection.

Options Tab

The Options tab allows you to choose the way you want HPS PixelColor to work.

Option Description
Clipboard Format Specifies the format used to place colors on the Clipboard.
Sort Safe Colors Specifies whether the colors on the Safe Colors tab will be arranged by hue or by RGB value.
Zoom Specifies the zoom factor to use for the Zoom tab.
Auto copy to Palette If selected, specifies that Ctrl+C will copy the color to the Palette as well as to the Clipboard,
Prompt for Palette description If selected, you will be prompted for a description when a color is placed on the Palette.
Uppercase hex If selected, hex color values will be copied to the Clipboard using upper-case letters; otherwise, lower-case letters will be used.
Snap to web-safe color If selected, the color under the cursor will be converted to the nearest web-safe color, and "FILTERED" will be displayed in the caption bar.
Sample 3x3 If selected, the color under the cursor will be sampled using a 3x3 pixel grid, and "FILTERED" will be displayed in the caption bar.
Invert color If selected, the color under the cursor will be inverted by taking its one's complement, and "FILTERED" will be displayed in the caption bar.

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