New iOS Color Chooser Options

With new updates to Pages, Number and Keynote you have new ways to select colors in those apps. This includes an eyedropper tool on the iPad that allows you to select a color from anywhere on the screen and use that to color text, shapes and other objects. This eyedropper tool also exists on the iPhone, but in a different location.

You can also watch this video at YouTube (but with ads).

Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. On today's episode let's look at using the new Color Choosing tools in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iOS.
So with the new update to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote last week we got a new way to select colors. Something called Color Picker. We've actually had this on the Mac for a long time but this is the first time it is appearing on the iPad. In addition to that we have an eyedropper tool. I'm going to show you those both.
You can select colors for lots of different things. For instance I'll select some text here. Then I'll use the paintbrush tool. Under style there I'll select where it says 11 point Helvetica, Color and you can see these different ways to choose color I can swipe between.
So I can select go through these here and I can even go now to this new version of the Color Picker here where I can pick some different things. But the real Color Picker, the one that kind of looks like the one we've got on the Mac, is here where you can kind of adjust the angle here and then you can go with saturation at the bottom and adjust those. So you can really pick any color that you want out of millions because you have a lot of control.
But what I really want to show you is something called the eyedropper tool which you see there at the bottom left. Before I do that let's create some more space here by editing instead of some text we'll create just a box here. Then I'll take this box here and move it and I will do the same thing with the paintbrush tool I'll go to Style, Options and here is where I can choose color. I can see all the different color options I can choose, including this selection there, and including the ability to easily change to any color I want using these tools.
Now to use the eyedropper tool I go to the bottom. At the bottom I see the most recently used colors that I have used. So if I select a certain color for some text I can very easily just tap one of those color chips there at the bottom to select it. But the first one on the left is a little eyedropper tool. So I'm going to tap that.
Now it all goes away and I get this message at the bottom, Drag across a color to apply it. I'm going to tap down with my finger and keep holding down. As you see as I move my finger whatever my finger is over, which appears just under the circle physically, that's what appears in the circle and that's what the color changes to. So I can move my finger here over the barn or shed there and you can see red. If I want to select this blue I can move over here and I can release and now I've got that color change there. 
If I look at the tools again I can see that the blue has been added as the most recent color chip at the bottom left. So now I have the ability to actually choose any color I want from anywhere on the screen on my iPad.
So what about on the iPhone. So here I am in Pages on the iPhone. I've got a similar document here. I'm going to select this box. It works a little different because it doesn't give you Color Picker but it does give you the eyedropper tool. So I hit the paintbrush there and you can see it is a very different way to select colors.
You've got just this long list, horizontal list here. On the right you've got No Fill and you've got the color chips. But you don't have the color wheel. I'm going to select the color chips and if I actually scroll up on the color chips I'll see them all. But also notice in the Toolbar there I see the eyedropper tool at the right.
So I'm going to tap the eyedropper tool and now I can do the same thing I was doing before where I can actually position my finger somewhere over this image and select a color.

Comments: 2 Responses to “New iOS Color Chooser Options”

JoeAllen

9 years ago

Gary's tutorials are excellent but I find the ones dealing with the iPad and iPhone are more difficult to follow. I think Gary should go to a "split screen totorial" where (1) one screen shows the device and the hands/fingers of the user, and (2) the other screen shows the resulting display on the iPhone/iPad.

Gary Rosenzweig

Nice thought. But that would make the videos much more expensive to produce.

Comments Closed.

New iOS Color Chooser Options

Comments: 2 Responses to “New iOS Color Chooser Options”

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