7 ms·

0to255

236 points by kylebragger 16y ago

JoeAltmaier 16y ago
Any app that needs the back button to fish around, could be improved by NOT needing the back button.
SlyShy 16y ago
Nice tool, although the way the colors are displayed can distort perception. Always remember to test and pick colors in context. If you are using a white background, don't pick colors in a black app, and vice versa.
- nopassrecover 16y ago
  How is this a problem here? As I see it the app uses both white and black backgrounds to help avoid this problem.
  - SlyShy 16y ago
    Displaying them all in a column like that emphasizes the value variations. Which is the point, of course. It's just that there is a segment of the population that always acts shocked to discover that the three colors they picked look different put together, than they do alone.
scorxn 16y ago
Too much choice I think. "0to255 is a simple tool that helps web _designers_ find variations of any color." Designers already have offline tools to explore full color spectra. Tools that turn color theory into recommendation algorithms are much more useful. Illustrator introduced a "Color Guide" palette for this and it's great. Would be even better as a free online tool. Doesn't necessarily need to be user-contributed like Kuler.
- subbu 16y ago
  I am sure programmers will find this tool very useful. I had to show a pie chart of different categories of data with varying weights. So I had to use the same color for representing weight of the same category. The best resource I could fine for identifying variations of same color was http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorhslhex10.html http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorhslhex10.html. Though it gives variations for same color, the variations aren't sequential between the rows. So at any point I couldn't get more than 10 cascading variations of the same color. This tool solves that problem pretty well.
  - kylebragger 16y ago
    Agreed. As a developer often working on small side projects, it's super helpful to not have to launch photoshop to mess around with colors.
- dhuck 16y ago
  http://colorschemedesigner.com/ http://colorschemedesigner.com/
- cschneid 16y ago
  I don't think the app is meant to be a whole color scheme design tool, so much as a helper that solves the specific question: "What is one shade lighter of this color?". "How about two shades".
  - schapman623 16y ago
    Exactly. I made 0to255 to solve the "I need a slightly lighter color" problem, which is actually a really frequent one. There are already really awesome tools for color inspiration like those on http://www.colourlovers.com/ http://www.colourlovers.com/
ZeroGravitas 16y ago
Okay, I'm intrigued. What can this possibly be doing that requires so many individual Flash items?
- pistoriusp 16y ago
  It's to enable click-to-copy (to the clipboard.)
  - RyanMcGreal 16y ago
    I'm not going to pretend that HTML5+Javascript can easily replication Flash functionality, but I'm pretty sure it can handle copy-to-clipboard. Edit forehead slap. The last time I had to write a script to copy to clipboard was several years ago and I was targeting the script for IE on a company intranet. I stand humbly (and foolishly) corrected.
    - kylebragger 16y ago
      Hm, that would be great — I'd love to see an example of this.
      - warfangle 16y ago
        Typically you'll get a selection object, get the range object, and .execCommand("Copy") on it. Unfortunately it only really works in IE (afaik); it used to work in FF if you got the Allow Clipboard Access plugin, but even that's been disabled. It could potentially be a huge security risk, which is why it's had to be sandboxed into plugins like flash.
        zmmmmm 16y ago
        >It could potentially be a huge security risk, Why is copying data into the clipboard a security risk? > which is why it's had to be sandboxed into plugins like flash. But it's already in a sandbox (the browser). Why do we need a sandbox inside the sandbox? I really don't understand what the huge deal is with this. It's almost harder to get some plain text onto the clipboard than it is to get the user to run a .exe.
remi 16y ago
Eric Meyer's Color Blender has been doing this for years. http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend/ http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend/
- ableal 16y ago
  Thank you. Plus: If you'd like to have the Color Blender for offline use, just view source and save (actually, just saving the html page does it)
bmelton 16y ago
I don't usually try to make pointless posts, but this is a BEAUTIFUL application, and there is almost no aspect of it that I do not love, even if I will likely never use it.
watty 16y ago
I just use ColorCop and drag the slider up and down to change luminosity. That "ribbon" design is becoming popular... http://0to255.com/ http://0to255.com/ http://blog.metalabdesign.com/ http://blog.metalabdesign.com/ http://www.movenetworks.com/ http://www.movenetworks.com/
callmeed 16y ago
This is great. With CSS gradients, borders and text shadows, you can at least start some nice interfaces without any background images.
atomon 16y ago
I'm surprised that people don't seem to like this as much as I do. Yes, a designer is obviously going to use a more powerful tool, but that doesn't really say anything about how useful this is. I'm constantly writing small web apps and I have absolutely no design sense whatsoever. Having a really simple, elegant tool that lets me randomly choose a color and view a few shades lighter or darker is a huge help. It's got a nice, simple UI and does one thing very well. I'll definitely be using it. And for those of you linking to other tools, they all either a) have a poor UI or b) do too much. That's not to say that they don't have their place, but they just don't do the same thing as this.
- kulkarnic 16y ago
  I agree it's a useful tool. However, I'm usually choosing a bunch of colors, and it helps if you're seeing the colors in context. What I'd really love is a color-dropper plugin that lets me choose a random color on a webpage, and change every pixel of that color to a different one specified by me. SASS does something close with its CSS variables, but it lacks the real-time interaction. Sorry this is so off-topic, this seemed so close...
- schapman623 16y ago
  My thoughts exactly. Thanks for the good feedback :)
jacktang 16y ago
it is not well supported in Chrome(debian)
- schapman623 16y ago
  Sorry about that. I'll be cleaning up browser compatibility in the next few days.
mufumbo 16y ago
my only suggestion is to be able to have my "saved colors" in the browser cookie. when i click it can add it to a fifo list :)
pg 16y ago
I wish "pick another color" put a second color to the right of the first instead of replacing it.
- schapman623 16y ago
  Hmm, that's a good idea. I'll play around with that.
tripngroove 16y ago
Here's a great one that converts between color modes, lets you step up or down mathematical increments by clicking, and gives you a full-window preview while you work. I use it all the time. http://www.drpeterjones.com/colorcalc/ http://www.drpeterjones.com/colorcalc/
gren 16y ago
That's cool but useless when using Sass http://sass-lang.com/ http://sass-lang.com/
Keyframe 16y ago
I just use http://kuler.adobe.com http://kuler.adobe.com It's great!
- nick-dap 16y ago
  I find http://www.colourlovers.com http://www.colourlovers.com much better all around. I've struggled with Kuler for a while. Its just too slow and cumbersome (try copy pasting to Photoshop and back). The reason is of course that its all in Flash. There is a built-in Kuler toolbox in Photoshop, but that's as slow and cumbersome as the site.
  - Keyframe 16y ago
    Seems nice, I'll try it out!
ph0rque 16y ago
hmmmm.... unfortunately, #baddad is a nice color, while #fabdad isn't IMO.
Pistos2 16y ago
This is well done, though I was also befuddled at first by the spinners on hover. See also: http://www.colorschemegenerator.com/index-black.htm http://www.colorschemegenerator.com/index-black.htm http://colorschemedesigner.com/ http://colorschemedesigner.com/ http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/ http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/ - Generate a palette from an image

236 points by kylebragger 16y ago

Any app that needs the back button to fish around, could be improved by NOT needing the back button.

Nice tool, although the way the colors are displayed can distort perception. Always remember to test and pick colors in context. If you are using a white background, don't pick colors in a black app, and vice versa.

nopassrecover 16y ago
How is this a problem here? As I see it the app uses both white and black backgrounds to help avoid this problem.
- SlyShy 16y ago
  Displaying them all in a column like that emphasizes the value variations. Which is the point, of course. It's just that there is a segment of the population that always acts shocked to discover that the three colors they picked look different put together, than they do alone.

scorxn 16y ago

Too much choice I think. "0to255 is a simple tool that helps web _designers_ find variations of any color." Designers already have offline tools to explore full color spectra. Tools that turn color theory into recommendation algorithms are much more useful. Illustrator introduced a "Color Guide" palette for this and it's great. Would be even better as a free online tool. Doesn't necessarily need to be user-contributed like Kuler.

subbu 16y ago
I am sure programmers will find this tool very useful. I had to show a pie chart of different categories of data with varying weights. So I had to use the same color for representing weight of the same category. The best resource I could fine for identifying variations of same color was http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorhslhex10.html http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorhslhex10.html. Though it gives variations for same color, the variations aren't sequential between the rows. So at any point I couldn't get more than 10 cascading variations of the same color. This tool solves that problem pretty well.
- kylebragger 16y ago
  Agreed. As a developer often working on small side projects, it's super helpful to not have to launch photoshop to mess around with colors.
dhuck 16y ago
http://colorschemedesigner.com/ http://colorschemedesigner.com/
cschneid 16y ago
I don't think the app is meant to be a whole color scheme design tool, so much as a helper that solves the specific question: "What is one shade lighter of this color?". "How about two shades".
- schapman623 16y ago
  Exactly. I made 0to255 to solve the "I need a slightly lighter color" problem, which is actually a really frequent one. There are already really awesome tools for color inspiration like those on http://www.colourlovers.com/ http://www.colourlovers.com/

ZeroGravitas 16y ago

Okay, I'm intrigued. What can this possibly be doing that requires so many individual Flash items?

pistoriusp 16y ago
It's to enable click-to-copy (to the clipboard.)
- RyanMcGreal 16y ago
  I'm not going to pretend that HTML5+Javascript can easily replication Flash functionality, but I'm pretty sure it can handle copy-to-clipboard. Edit forehead slap. The last time I had to write a script to copy to clipboard was several years ago and I was targeting the script for IE on a company intranet. I stand humbly (and foolishly) corrected.
  - kylebragger 16y ago
    Hm, that would be great — I'd love to see an example of this.
    - warfangle 16y ago
      Typically you'll get a selection object, get the range object, and .execCommand("Copy") on it. Unfortunately it only really works in IE (afaik); it used to work in FF if you got the Allow Clipboard Access plugin, but even that's been disabled. It could potentially be a huge security risk, which is why it's had to be sandboxed into plugins like flash.
      - zmmmmm 16y ago
        >It could potentially be a huge security risk, Why is copying data into the clipboard a security risk? > which is why it's had to be sandboxed into plugins like flash. But it's already in a sandbox (the browser). Why do we need a sandbox inside the sandbox? I really don't understand what the huge deal is with this. It's almost harder to get some plain text onto the clipboard than it is to get the user to run a .exe.

remi 16y ago

Eric Meyer's Color Blender has been doing this for years. http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend/ http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend/

ableal 16y ago
Thank you. Plus: If you'd like to have the Color Blender for offline use, just view source and save (actually, just saving the html page does it)

bmelton 16y ago

I don't usually try to make pointless posts, but this is a BEAUTIFUL application, and there is almost no aspect of it that I do not love, even if I will likely never use it.

watty 16y ago

I just use ColorCop and drag the slider up and down to change luminosity. That "ribbon" design is becoming popular... http://0to255.com/ http://0to255.com/ http://blog.metalabdesign.com/ http://blog.metalabdesign.com/ http://www.movenetworks.com/ http://www.movenetworks.com/

callmeed 16y ago

This is great. With CSS gradients, borders and text shadows, you can at least start some nice interfaces without any background images.

atomon 16y ago

I'm surprised that people don't seem to like this as much as I do. Yes, a designer is obviously going to use a more powerful tool, but that doesn't really say anything about how useful this is. I'm constantly writing small web apps and I have absolutely no design sense whatsoever. Having a really simple, elegant tool that lets me randomly choose a color and view a few shades lighter or darker is a huge help. It's got a nice, simple UI and does one thing very well. I'll definitely be using it. And for those of you linking to other tools, they all either a) have a poor UI or b) do too much. That's not to say that they don't have their place, but they just don't do the same thing as this.

kulkarnic 16y ago
I agree it's a useful tool. However, I'm usually choosing a bunch of colors, and it helps if you're seeing the colors in context. What I'd really love is a color-dropper plugin that lets me choose a random color on a webpage, and change every pixel of that color to a different one specified by me. SASS does something close with its CSS variables, but it lacks the real-time interaction. Sorry this is so off-topic, this seemed so close...
schapman623 16y ago
My thoughts exactly. Thanks for the good feedback :)

jacktang 16y ago

it is not well supported in Chrome(debian)

schapman623 16y ago
Sorry about that. I'll be cleaning up browser compatibility in the next few days.

mufumbo 16y ago

my only suggestion is to be able to have my "saved colors" in the browser cookie. when i click it can add it to a fifo list :)

pg 16y ago

I wish "pick another color" put a second color to the right of the first instead of replacing it.

schapman623 16y ago
Hmm, that's a good idea. I'll play around with that.

tripngroove 16y ago

Here's a great one that converts between color modes, lets you step up or down mathematical increments by clicking, and gives you a full-window preview while you work. I use it all the time. http://www.drpeterjones.com/colorcalc/ http://www.drpeterjones.com/colorcalc/

gren 16y ago

That's cool but useless when using Sass http://sass-lang.com/ http://sass-lang.com/

Keyframe 16y ago

I just use http://kuler.adobe.com http://kuler.adobe.com It's great!

nick-dap 16y ago
I find http://www.colourlovers.com http://www.colourlovers.com much better all around. I've struggled with Kuler for a while. Its just too slow and cumbersome (try copy pasting to Photoshop and back). The reason is of course that its all in Flash. There is a built-in Kuler toolbox in Photoshop, but that's as slow and cumbersome as the site.
- Keyframe 16y ago
  Seems nice, I'll try it out!

ph0rque 16y ago

hmmmm.... unfortunately, #baddad is a nice color, while #fabdad isn't IMO.

Pistos2 16y ago

This is well done, though I was also befuddled at first by the spinners on hover. See also: http://www.colorschemegenerator.com/index-black.htm http://www.colorschemegenerator.com/index-black.htm http://colorschemedesigner.com/ http://colorschemedesigner.com/ http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/ http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/ - Generate a palette from an image