Color My World With Great Online Tools
By Bud Kraus
bud@joyofcode.com
Joy Of Code
Creator And Instructor
Originally Published: 2005
Today I veer off the course I've been on about well formed documents and HTML tutorials. I move in the direction of pointing out a few great resources that I hope will prove useful for non-graphic artists (like me) and graphic artists alike.
Keep these nearby as you're thinking art direction and color.
Code Blender
This one's from a friend and colleague, Russ Howard. It's a gem for people
like me who have no background in color (but love background color) and
are clueless when deciding what color goes with another.
Move those R, G, and B sliders around and you'll wonder, "How do they do that?"
This answers one of my biggest questions in life: What goes with what?
Colour
Contrast Analyser
Plug in your hexadecimal foreground and background colors, then hit the "Analyse
Colours" button.
The Hex Hub
Part of a larger site, The Hex Hub allows you to browse through five pages
of colors - neutrals, warms, greens, blues, and purples. Each page has loads
of color swatches identified by a color term and a hexadecimal code.
Quick. What's ultramarineviolet? #5C246E, in case you don't know.
Color Wheel
This one's pretty fancy. Plug in RGB values - 0 through 256 - (plus optional
angle, tine, and shade values) and see what happens.
Color
Schemer
Similar to Color Wheel. Fill in the RGB values or click on a color in the
color palette.
Hexadecimal Codes
- A Mathematical Language
For the math wizards (or those curious like me who want to know just what
is this hexadecimal business all about) here's a page that breaks it down
in perfect English. That's if you have 16 fingers!
Vischeck
I saved my favorite for last. This one checks on whether your images will
cause problems for those who have one of three types of color blindness.
Upload an image and let Vischeck check it.
Do you have a favorite that I should have included? Let me know.
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