15-Minute Reviews :: ACA Color Picker v1.00

Today’s 15-Minute Review is on ACA Color Picker version 1.00 by ACA Systems – An application to aid with on-screen color capturing functionality.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“ACA Color Picker is a color picker software, it pick the color value of any screen pixel and displays its value in a value of formats such as CMY, Decimal, Hexadecimal, HSB/HSV, HSL, HSL, HTML and RGB. With ACA Color Picker, you can get kinds of color code, just after click several times, it’s very helpful for web designer, webmaster or programmer.”

Quick Pros

• Interface is very simple and easy to use
• Plenty of output formats (Except CMYK)
• Auto-copy to clipboard is good feature
• Application does not require focus to capture colors
• Color list is endless and can be saved and re-opened

Quick Cons

• Does not support CMYK (Only CMY)
• No mousewheel support in the advanced text boxes
• Interface window is too large
• Does not minimize to the system tray
• More control over the color list would be beneficial

Expansion

Upon first launch of this application, the interface window launches. Within this window by default, you will see a screen preview area, a color preview window (Called Picker), a word list of the colors chosen as the background and the hex value in text over top, a drop-down box to choose what the color code will be displayed in as well as a text box with the value of the last selected color and a copy button. The formats supported by this application are CMY, decimal, hex, HSB/HSV, HSL, HTML and RGB – For some reason CMYK was overlooked.

There is also an advanced button in the main interface (which likely will want to be ran with for the extra information available on the fly), displaying a color rainbow and bar as well as a last-grabbed color preview window and HSL and RGB values in a text box which can be edited to adjust the color. Unfortunately, to adjust the color, you must either use the color rainbow/bar or manually enter the numbers; You can not use the mousewheel to quickly adjust the values.

Overall the interface is relatively intuitive and allows you to select your own hotkey which can be used even when the application is minimized or behind other windows if Always On Top is disabled. Unfortunately this appears to be the only hotkey; There is no hotkeys to control the zoom, format displayed, or the options. You will likely want Always On Top disabled because the window is just too large with Advanced mode on (And even with off, it is too large for too little information). Another handy feature is the Auto-Copy To Clipboard; When used in conjunction with the global hotkey, does make a difference for usability. Now you do not need to have the application front and center to choose colors and have them in your clipboard for quick use. Unfortunately, if you do minimize the application, it does not minimize to the System Tray – Instead it ends up taking up sometimes much-needed space on the Taskbar. If the application did minimize to the System Tray, you could even incorporate a ‘screen preview’ window as the task tray icon or other intuitive features.

One aspect I did notice of the application is the color list is essentially a list box where the background color of each line is placed as the color, and then in hex the lettering in what appears to be the color’s inverse is placed overtop (Sometimes a bit difficult to see the lettering). As being a list box, this offers a near-limitless list of color selections you have chosen. However, with an endless list, there also comes no controls over the list besides Open, Save, and Clear All. With a list like this, it was hoped that there would be a way to name the colors (For later reference), as well as reorder to some degree (Even if not drag and drop, offer sort functions such as by rainbow, by name, by time clicked, etc) and delete items one at a time.

Final Verdict

Overall this is not a bad application. The global hotkey is very handy for quickly capturing and getting colors without having to bring focus on the application via the Auto Copy to Clipboard feature. There are a few flaws as well, including the window being just way too large and lacking some other controls. As being version 1.00, this application does have some promise. For free, if you are in the market for a color picker, this could be one to try and compare it against other solutions. As for paying for this title, I would find it difficult to recommend this application yet; It is just not quite feature rich enough yet, especially when it is combating freeware alternatives such as ColorPic, though this does boil down to a preference aspect again and hopefully there is growth in its functionality.

Posted by BladedThoth on Friday, March 14, 2008