Has the issue regarding colour picking not working properly ever been resolved? If I pick a colour (MacOS or SIP), and apply it to a Rapidweaver swatch it always comes out darker. Whatever hex colour is registered in the swatch, SIP tells me it’s something different.
I remember this from 8+ years ago, still happening…
Looks like you are right… This issue is very old.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2461326?sortBy=rank
All sorts of crazy stuff going on depending on which colour profiles are set where (there’s three places) and from which app the colour is picked, with the same file.
Here we discussed workarounds and causes:
I haven’t looked into it any further after that, I still use my old ‘procedure’.
Thanks @Konfuzzious, before I read that lengthy thread you just referred me too, I had reached one of the same conclusions as you.
For anyone wanting to use a colour picker to match colours:
The issue has been going on since the mid-90s. It is SO simple to fix, use sRGB for everything (although in this world of HDR screens, and phones P3 is now more appropriate). There’s no such thing as ‘generic RGB’ and specifying it means you have zero control. Specifying sRGB or P3 means you have full control of how your product looks? I have seen some horror story sites recently with desaturated or oversaturated pictures, banding where people had clearly used images designed for print. Surely if you’re taking the time and trouble to build a beautiful, well designed site, it is important to know exactly how it looks?
Better still, buy one of these cheap, simple devices Display 123
I have a 15% discount code if you want (no, I get no kickback) and then you will know exactly what your sites, graphics and pictures look like to the rest of the world…
Would anyone appreciate me creating small tutorial on Colour management for web sites?
I think this could be a very nice contribution, Nick.
Not only every website developer should know how to manage colors to make their website(s) look good on most screens, but also they should advise their viewers how to do that for the viewers benefit.
I have three suggested sources of info on this subject placed on my Family Portal. If you want to use them, here they are:
I’ll certainly get on and do that Rob. I created a lot of documentation on colour management for Canon and Reuters in the past : )
Thanks for your expertise and a colour management tutorial would be welcome. The issue here though was specifically about colour matching with the picker, rather than overall calibration (again though, a tute on this would be handy).
Fact is though:
I have never had an issue with colour in RW, values I pick match the same in PS / InDesign - I have just rechecked using the blue panel on the right when creating a post and Hex values where identical!
I suspect that where you are going wrong is that upon opening an image, it has to be converted to the correct colour space. Assigning a colour space / profile, or failing to, breaks everything.
Let’s say I screen grab said blue panel. I now need to convert from whatever my screen colour profile is, to a standard working space, usually sRGB. Do that and Hex values are identical to what RW gives me via the picker.
Ignore my current profile, Sequoia currently has a bug where it holds onto the last external display profile, hence my presentation projector. So my screen grab needs to be converted from display profile (EpsonPJ ) to sRGB
Colour tutorial will follow - it is on the list!
Thanks Nick. Reality is, many people have reported issues, not just me. My experience is, let’s say I have an image with a background colour, and I want to extend that background colour to fill a larger container. There’s no option to convert the colour space, it’s simply dropped into Rapidweaver. I pick the bg colour of the image in RW, and use that hex value as the bg # for the container it resides in, and…
…I get a different colour unless a quite specific process is followed, which I have outlined above as the solution. Starting with NOT using Apple’s colour picker to source the colour, and including making sure “generic RGB” is set before entering the hex value.
That’s just the way it is, I have found no other way to do it, “correctly” or not. But now that I have a process, it’s fine. It’s a minefield out there!
I appreciate your workaround works, but this is the correct way to do it.
Blue colour above, picked by RW colour picker. Colour swatch stored.
Screengrab (attached above) saved to desktop. Open in PS or A N Other colour managed app. Convert from Mac screen profile > Working RGB (sRGB)
Add Container plus to website. Set background to custom and select the stored swatch.
Add Screengrab to container - see result below.
There is no issue with RW colour picker (and I am not a RW fanboy as most know!)
If you want to extend an image, it has to be done in a colour managed way to work across all platforms.
For a few hours only I put this in the quickest place I could find - my website privacy page
Really happy to try this, and will, thank you. However, why does RW via Apple colour picker, give me a different result from SIP sRGB?
P.S. your photography is effing astounding!
Thanks, that is kind. Too many years of practice!
What is SIP sRGB?
The Apple colour picker which RW uses is effectively converting values to sRGB on the fly, hence why my methodology is working. I need to do some more testing when I have time.
The key point to take away for all things colour management is always to convert colours from one space to another, never to assign. In an article I wrote for Canon 20 years ago, I described ‘assigning’ as putting a label on a jar of red jam, without knowing the contents, it could be raspberry, strawberry or even red current; similar looking, but very different. In the early noughties, I did very well from a consultancy project when a Land Rover agency mistakenly ‘assigned’ sRGB to set of ad images contracted for delivery in Adobe RGB. Then they printed them without proofing. The results were horrible in print, and very expensive for the agency. You never forget things like that (although I was the innocent party and beneficiary too).
