Color

8

The Colors panel displays the colors available on your computer. This chapter explains how to select a color on the panel and use it in a document. You can also "capture" a color you like to the panel and then use it in another document.

Working with Color

You can open the Colors panel, select a color, and work with it.

Choose the Colors command.
.
In the color wheel, click on the color you want.
The color you click on appears in the color well. If you drag in the wheel, the color in the well changes as you drag.

Figure 8-1

Note - Move around the color wheel to get a spectrum of hues. Drag along a radius to adjust the saturation (or amount) of one hue. To constrain your drag to that hue, hold down the Shift key as you drag.

In addition to selecting a color, you can modify its brightness and opacity:

Drag the knob in the brightness slider--or click in the bar--to make the current color lighter or darker.
Drag the knob in the opacity slider--or click in the bar--to make the current color more opaque or transparent. If your application doesn't use opacity, this slider doesn't appear in the Colors panel.

For details about applying a color in a document, see "Using Color in Your Documents" on page 8-4. The following pages describe other ways to select colors as well as ways to save colors you've selected so they're easy to retrieve.

Capturing a Color From the Screen

If you see a color on the screen that you would like to use, you can capture it with the Colors panel.

Choose the Colors command and click on the magnifying glass button.
The mouse pointer changes to a magnifying glass shape.
Move the magnifying glass to the color you want to capture from the screen.
The color should be centered in the crosshairs as shown in Figure 8-2.
Click the mouse button.
The screen color becomes the current color in the color well.

Figure 8-2

After capturing a color you can apply it directly to a document or save it in one of the color swatches on the panel.

Saving a Color in a Swatch

After selecting a color on the wheel or capturing it from the screen, you can save it in a color swatch to use later.

* Drag from the color well to the swatch bar at the bottom of the panel.

As you drag, a small color sample appears under the pointer. When you release the mouse button, the color appears in the swatch bar. Color swatches are saved until you replace them with new swatches.

The next time you open the Colors panel--whether in the same application or in another one--the same colors will still be in your swatches.

Figure 8-3

Note - You can enlarge the Colors panel to increase the number of swatches you can use.

Use the colors in your swatches by dragging them to documents (See "Using Color in Your Documents" on page 8-4).

Using Color in Your Documents

If your application has a Colors panel, you can use it to change the color of text and other objects in your documents. For example, you can include color text in memos you send in Mail or in articles you write in Edit.

Select the text whose color you want to change.
(For more about selecting text, see Chapter 6, "Editing.")
Choose the Colors command.
The Colors panel opens.
Select the color you want.
The color you select appears in the color well.

Figure 8-4

Drag the color from the color well to the selected text.
The selected text changes to the current color.

Dragging from the color well to another color well or to a selection is the standard way to change colors. You also use this method to change the color of selected graphics and other objects in other applications.