Color tool

A screenshot of the GTK+ color picker.

A screenshot of the Qt color picker.

A color tool, color picker, or color chooser is a utility, usually found within graphics software or online, used to choose colors or create color schemes.

Many such tools exist on the world wide web which include features such as a color harmonization interface, a color picker, RGB and HSL conversion and manipulation, a collection of saved schemes, and other similar characteristics. Designers, developers, and other professionals that work with other types of screen or print media use these tools in their work.

Purpose

A color tool is used to preview and test color values. In graphic design and image editing, users typically choose colors via an interface with a visual representation of a color – often organized with quasi-perceptually-relevant hue, lightness, and saturation dimensions – instead of keying in alphanumeric text values. Because color appearance depends on comparison of neighboring colors (see color vision), many interfaces attempt to clarify the relationships between colors.

Interface

Color tools can vary in their interface. Some may use sliders, buttons, text boxes for color values, or direct manipulation. Often a two dimensional square is used to create a range of color values (such as lightness and saturation) that can be clicked on or selected in some other manner. Drag and drop, color droppers, and various other forms of interfaces are commonly used as well.

Each color is represented as a unique number. In many cases it is a hexadecimal 32-bit number (e. g. #FF0000 represents pure red in HTML and is also used in many graphic editors). In case of an external color tool, the number of the chosen color is copied to the clipboard and pasted to an application where it is applied.

See also

• Color balance
• Color space
• RGB color space
• Web colors
• Web design