Color Pickers for Sketch Photoshop, Chrome & more with Vue.js

Color plays a pivotal role in design, influencing user experiences and shaping visual identities. To streamline the design process, developers and designers often turn to color picker tools that seamlessly integrate with popular design applications like Sketch, Photoshop, and web browsers like Chrome. This article delves into the world of color pickers, specifically those powered by Vue.js, and how they enhance the design workflow across various platforms.

Understanding Color Pickers:

Color pickers are tools that facilitate the selection and manipulation of colors in a design. These tools are particularly valuable for professionals working on graphic design, web development, and other visual projects. Vue.js, a progressive JavaScript framework, has gained popularity for its flexibility and ease of integration, making it an ideal choice for developing feature-rich color pickers.

Vue.js-Powered Color Pickers:

1. Sketch:

  • Vue.js has been leveraged to create custom color pickers for Sketch, enhancing the capabilities of designers working within this popular design software. These tools provide an intuitive interface for selecting and managing colors directly within the Sketch environment.

2. Photoshop:

  • Vue.js integration extends to Photoshop, enabling developers to build interactive color pickers that seamlessly integrate with Adobe’s flagship design software. These tools enhance the color selection process, offering a dynamic and user-friendly experience.

3. Chrome Extensions:

  • Vue.js is a preferred choice for developers creating color picker extensions for web browsers like Chrome. These extensions empower users to pick colors from any web page, providing a convenient way to extract and use colors in their own design projects.

Features and Capabilities:

a. Real-Time Color Preview:

  • Vue.js enables the creation of color pickers that provide real-time previews, allowing users to see the impact of color changes instantly.

b. Hex, RGB, and HSL Support:

  • Comprehensive color representation is a hallmark of Vue.js-powered color pickers, supporting popular formats like Hex, RGB, and HSL for seamless integration with various design applications.

c. Opacity and Transparency Control:

  • Advanced color pickers developed with Vue.js often include features for adjusting opacity and transparency, providing designers with fine-tuned control over color elements.

d. Customization Options:

  • Vue.js allows developers to create highly customizable color pickers, enabling users to tailor the tool to their specific design needs. This includes the ability to customize the layout, color swatches, and other interface elements.

Integrating Vue.js Color Pickers into Workflows:

a. Installation and Implementation:

  • Users can easily integrate Vue.js color pickers into their design workflow by installing the respective plugins or extensions for Sketch, Photoshop, or Chrome. Implementation is often straightforward, requiring minimal setup.

b. Seamless Collaboration:

  • Collaborative design efforts benefit from Vue.js color pickers, providing consistency across different platforms. Designers and developers can easily share color palettes and ensure uniformity in their projects.

c. Improved Productivity:

  • The efficiency of the design workflow is enhanced with Vue.js color pickers, as designers can swiftly select, modify, and experiment with colors without the need for cumbersome external tools.

Complete implementation of Color Pickers for Sketch, Photoshop, Chrome & more with Vue.js

Installation

NPM

$ npm install vue-color

CommonJS

var Photoshop = require('vue-color/src/Photoshop.vue');

new Vue({
  components: {
    'Photoshop': Photoshop
  }
})

ES6

import { Photoshop } from 'vue-color'

new Vue({
  components: {
    'photoshop-picker': Photoshop
  }
})

Browser globals

The dist folder contains vue-color.js and vue-color.min.js with all components exported in the window.VueColor object. These bundles are also available on NPM packages.

<script src="path/to/vue.js"></script>
<script src="path/to/vue-color.min.js"></script>
<script>
  var Photoshop = VueColor.Photoshop
</script>

Local setup

npm install
npm run dev

Usage

var colors = {
  hex: '#194d33',
  hex8: '#194D33A8',
  hsl: { h: 150, s: 0.5, l: 0.2, a: 1 },
  hsv: { h: 150, s: 0.66, v: 0.30, a: 1 },
  rgba: { r: 25, g: 77, b: 51, a: 1 },
  a: 1
}
// or
var colors = '#194d33'
// or
var colors = '#194D33A8'
// or 
var colors = { h: 150, s: 0.66, v: 0.30 }
// or 
var colors = { r: 255, g: 0, b: 0 }
// etc...

new Vue({
  el: '#app',
  components: {
    'material-picker': material,
    'compact-picker': compact,
    'swatches-picker': swatches,
    'slider-picker': slider,
    'sketch-picker': sketch,
    'chrome-picker': chrome,
    'photoshop-picker': photoshop
  },
  data () {
    return {
      colors
    }
  }
})

colors accepts either a string of a hex color ‘#333’ or a object of rgb or hsl values { r: 51, g: 51, b: 51 } or { h: 0, s: 0, l: .10 }, whatever tinycolor2 accepts as an input.

<!-- suppose you have the data 'colors' in your component -->
<material-picker v-model="colors" />
<compact-picker v-model="colors" />
<swatches-picker v-model="colors" />
<slider-picker v-model="colors" />
<sketch-picker v-model="colors" />
<chrome-picker v-model="colors" />
<photoshop-picker v-model="colors" />

OR

<chrome-picker :value="colors" @input="updateValue"></chrome-picker>

In some cases you can give the component a predefined set of colors with the property presetColors (for Sketch only) or palette (for Compact and Grayscale), by simply passing it an array with the color values as strings in any css compatible format.

<sketch-picker 
  @input="updateValue"
  :value="colors"
  :preset-colors="[ 
    '#f00', '#00ff00', '#00ff0055', 'rgb(201, 76, 76)', 'rgba(0,0,255,1)', 'hsl(89, 43%, 51%)', 'hsla(89, 43%, 51%, 0.6)'
  ]"
></sketch-picker>

<compact-picker 
  @input="updateValue"
  :value="colors"
  :palette="[ 
    '#f00', '#00ff00', '#00ff0055', 'rgb(201, 76, 76)', 'rgba(0,0,255,1)', 'hsl(89, 43%, 51%)', 'hsla(89, 43%, 51%, 0.6)'
  ]"
></compact-picker>

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