DigitalColor Meter is now pretty useless.

[ConnorCG]

I know this is something that not a lot of people use often, if at all, but I just fired up DigitalColor meter to check the color code on something, and I was greeted with this:

There used to be options for different hex values (for web development), and some other things, but now the only options are color-profile based. Why would they remove something like that?

 

[Intell]

I agree that it is now limited. I copied the version from Snow Leopard and it seems to work without an issue.

 

[ConnorCG]

I'll have to restore it from a backup then. How did you go about doing that exactly?

 

[Intell]

I'll have to restore it from a backup then. How did you go about doing that exactly?

I renamed Lion's version "Digital Colour Meter Lion" and copied over Snow Leopard's. I then duplicated Snow Leopard's in case a future update messes with it.

 

[ConnorCG]

Hmm, I am not allowed to modify it because it "is needed by OS X."

 

[Intell]

Hmm, I am not allowed to modify it because it "is needed by OS X."

Odd, are you logged in as an Admin? Try coping it to your Desktop, renaming the Desktop one, deleting the Utilities folder one, coping the renamed Desktop one into the Utilities folder.

 

[sstringer]

I tried this with great anticipation, but it looks like doing this will result in a crash in the final release of Lion. Boo.

I can't imagine what the Apple folks were thinking when they took the ability to copy the color code out of an app that has remain unchanged for... what? ten?... years. I use(d) this app daily for web development. Now I'm scrambling for a replacement.

 

[cs45977]

If anyone figures this out

I tried the restore as well but no luck.

Why would apple do this !?!?!

If anyone figures out how o get the hex values on the new digitalcolor meter
or another painless method. I'd love to hear about it.

 

[timothevs]

This just confounds me. What in the world was Apple thinking... Was it actually someone's job to go in and "remove" functionality from this app? Wow.

 

[HiRez]

This is a long shot, but did anyone try holding down the Option key while dropping down the menu? I remember Displays in System Preferences would only show you non-standard choices when you did this. Why hex would be hidden, I don't know, but it's worth a shot.

Also, here's a workaround for it, but you need some setup: http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/index_files/replace-digitalcolor-meter-in-lion.php

 

[steerpikegg]

Found this on the app store : http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/colorsnapper/id418176775?mt=12

It's very cheap, but does the job brilliantly and is much more convenient than DCM.

I was loathe to have to buy an app because of Apple's stupidity, but since using it, I'm glad I did.

 

[netnothing]

Found this on the app store : http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/colorsnapper/id418176775?mt=12

It's very cheap, but does the job brilliantly and is much more convenient than DCM.

I was loathe to have to buy an app because of Apple's stupidity, but since using it, I'm glad I did.

Will have to admit....ColorSnapper is a nice app so far.

For anyone looking for a free alternative.....I used to use Pipette (before I found ColorSnapper):
http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/pipette

It's free and was just updated to work with Lion.

-Kevin

 

[iccir]

You can also try my app, Classic Color Meter, at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/classic-color-meter/id451640037

It replicates almost all functionality of Snow Leopard's DigitalColor Meter.

The only missing features that I haven't implemented are "Click in swatch copies color to clipboard" and "Drag in swatch drags out the color". I couldn't find any actual use cases for either of these. If you need them, let me know!

- Ricci

 

[podium06]

it is not useless

look under
view --> display values
and mark "as hexadecimal"

and there you have it.
good as before.
even a bit better...