Color Cop

Being able to match colors on Web pages is an important element of Web design. You may need to match a new page design to an existing one or create custom colors that don't mimic other popular sites. Either way, a color picker is an essential tool to have on hand. Color Cop offers a simple way to read color info, and it does so effectively and in an easy-to-use package.

Color Cop appears as a tiny box that floats on top of your Web page. You can minimize the box while you browse, but it stays on top of your viewing area when maximized. The interface includes an RGB value breakdown as well as its corresponding hexadecimal triplet value. Boxes display the colors as you hover over them with either the eyedropper tool or the magnifier. Despite Color Cop's simple appearance, it actually took us a minute or two to get the hang of it. To grab color values, simply click and drag on either tool to move it like a mouse as you hover over the areas of interest. We clicked on the eyedropper tool and as we moved it, the color values of our Web page appeared. Letting go of your mouse locks in the color. The program includes various options, which can be found by right-clicking on the interface. For example, you can change modes from HTML Hex to Delphi Hex, Visual C++ Hex, and more. You can also manage your sampling sizes and change out tools (a crosshair cursor is also available). We found the Help link by right-clicking on the interface, but it failed to launch.

This program downloads as a ZIP file. No installation is needed since it's accessible after extraction. Color Cop is as basic as it gets, but it gets the job done, and that's what counts. We recommend it for all users.