Acorn PD Software ....

This program was initially written when setting up web pages in order to try to use colours that would look good on a variety of web browsers. The idea was to select a colour using the Colour Picker and then find the 'nearest' colour in the 216 colour palette of Netsafe 'no-dither' colours used on PC browsers. This was later extended to give a choice of palettes, and currently the program has data for the named colours used on Unix systems, an approximation to the Pantone spot colour palette (as used in Corel Draw for example) and the more recent Pantone Internet Colour System palette. The standard Acorn 256 colour palette is also included, as are the default MacIntosh and Windows palettes.

The colour information in the main program window is displayed in RGB form with 0-&FF, 0-255 and 0-100% data available, and by maximising the window CMYK data can be brought into view. All of these boxes are writable, and any data entered will be accepted by the program when the return key is hit. Clicking on the colour swatch icon will open the Colour Picker for normal colour selection. When a colour has been selected, clicking on the 'Match' button will cause the program to find the 4 'nearest' colours from the currently selected palette and display them along the bottom of the colour swatch window. These choices can then be transferred to the main window by clicking on the small buttons below the desired colour. The concept of the 'nearest' colour is that described in the ChangeFSI documentation and in the PRMs. Unfortunately these sources use different weighting for the RGB values when determining the colour distance. !Colours uses the ChangeFSI values by default, but can be altered from the appropriate menu item.

Any colour displayed in the main swatch window can be transferred to a rudimentary 'scratchpad' or temporary storage area by clicking on the arrow icon to the left of the (maximised) window. The 10 most recent added colour are stored, and the contents of this pad can be saved as a text file at any time by opening the save window from the main menu. A colour from the scratchpad can be transferred back to the main area by clicking on it.

Use the program at your own risk - extensive testing has not been carried out and some bugs may still be present. It is known to work on a StrongArm RiscPC without major problems and should be fairly intuitive to use. It has been designed for use in the 'real colour' modes, with at least 32000 colours available - using a utility such as this in a 16 colour mode does not make a lot of sense....

The palette data is stored as a series of CSV files which can be loaded into a spreadsheet and manipulated there if the information might be useful in another context. The information is thought to be reasonably accurate, but as usual there are no guarantees :-).

Any e-mailed comments or or bug reports are welcome, as are suggestions for improvements and better programming technique. The most recent version will be at http://www.valleyfield.demon.co.uk

This program is public domain, and no warranty, express or implied, is given of the suitability of this software for any purpose whatsoever. Under no circumstances will liability for any damage or indirect or consequential loss arising out of use of the software be accepted etc.

The MenuUtils module was written by Alex Petrov. (APetrov@misis.msk.su).
All trademarks etc. acknowledged.

Tony Snell
July 1998

Brief History
=============

v0.10ß - In house version
v0.12ß - Tidied up version put on web site, May 1998
v0.13ß - MacIntosh and Windows palettes added
v0.14ß - Scratchpad added