I’ve been doing a bit of pixel pushing the last couple of weeks, making a few applications look just like the mockups. This isn’t just something some designer threw together randomly, but part of a major marketing and promotion push. So things have to be just right, down to the exact pixel and exact RGB color level. As some of the stuff is based on dynamic layout, there’s no real way to check it except measure the pixels and color value on the published SWF.
Searching around for a screen ruler, I ran across MIO Toolbox.
It’s a pretty cool set of tools – screen ruler, screen capture, a couple different magnifiers and color picker. Even in its collapsed state, you can have it give you a constant readout of the x, y position of the mouse and the color of the pixel under it.
I’m sure there are a lot of other similar tools out there, but as a package, all these tools felt just right, so I dished out the 12 bucks for registration. Hey, if it saves me 10 minutes, I’ll be ahead of the game.
MWSnap is a freeware that I have been using for a while, it does similar functions but it consumes less system resource:
http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html
Not bad. I figured there’d be some free alternatives, but I still like the look and feel and integration of MIO.
Xscope is great for Mac, but I haven’t been able to find anything comprable for Windows, so thanks for the link.
http://iconfactory.com/software/xscope