While this is aimed at web developers, it works well for graphic designers as well. Today I’m writing about Developer Color Picker. I’ve found several alternative color pickers that solve the problem. But both of those a clunky options, so I kept researching. I also use Bootcamp and Parallels and PowerPoint under Windows sets colors correctly. I have a couple of machines on Snow Leopard and there is no problem settings colors accurately.
When I first ran across this issue, the only 2 workarounds I could think of were to run PowerPoint on an older OS or on Windows. The color values change before your very eyes! Yikes! Click on the gear icon beside the RGB Slider dropdown and select a different color profile. Now, reopen the color panel: the values have changed! Continuing the test, enter R50 G100 B200 again. Open it up, select any text or shape and set the color. You can see this in action if you have PowerPoint on a Mac. It’s simply impossible to set accurate corporate RGB colors in a presentation. But for corporate presentation software like PowerPoint, it’s a disaster. This isn’t such a big deal in, say, BBEdit, where the color only has to be close. You can’t create accurate color values for apps that are not color-managed, which is the majority. While this may be a godsend to users in a color-management workstream, everyone else is put in a tough spot. With the advent of Yosemite, the Mac color picker has acquired color management.
