Powertoys: [Color Picker] Show color name

[TobiasSekan]

Tracking issue, base on a idea of @htcfreek from pull request #6975:

📝 Provide a description of the new feature

It would be nice to see the name of a color direct in the color picker

1. Show the color name in the color picker window
2. Add a option to copy the color name instead of the color presentation (when there is a color name)
3. (optional) When there is no color name, show a color name that is in the near (like a diff of 2% or so)

[Aaron-Junker]

The problem is: Colors can have diffrent names. I would suggest the names from css:

https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_colors.asp

[TobiasSekan]

Tracking by main Issue: #5379

[niels9001]

Thanks @TobiasSekan . I agree, showing the color name could help for people with low vision or that suffer from color blindness. I've added your request to the master tracking list in #5379

[htcfreek]

The problem is: Colors can have diffrent names. I would suggest the names from css:

https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_colors.asp

And the question is, if all colour gradations have corresponding names.

[TobiasSekan]

I don't like the idea to show only ONE color name system.
looking at https://www.w3schools.com/colors/default.asp they have a good list of important Color Standards
So i want to add all of this (and more) and give the user the choice to select one of this.

Short mock-up

[niels9001]

I'd stick with the one that the WinUI ColorPicker uses. Supporting all of these formats seems a bit too much tbh.

[TobiasSekan]

Supporting all of these formats seems a bit too much tbh.

No, it is really easy, the most work on this is copy paste and a hand of replacement work (CTRL+H is you friend).

When we present only one option for the color names, it should not overwhelming the user.

And with this we can bring the Color Picker to people that work with colors in more analog context.

[yolopetshop]

I think it's not neccessary, just need more stable app

[crutkas]

When you say color name, what do you mean? What is the developer / customer use case when someone would use this.

[niels9001]

@crutkas Check the WinUI ColorPicker. When going over the colorwheel a text tooltip shows the (standardized) color name. One of the benefits is that for users with low vision, or color blindness it become clear(er) they selected the right color. Someone posted an earlier issue that mentioned this specidic example.

I guess @TobiasSekan has other reasons/examples as well?

[crutkas]

I understand the accessibility scenario but @tobiasSekan / @htcfreek hasn't clearly articulated how an end user would use this.

• How would doing a color name output be helpful. Where would someone use the result?
• How refined of a color spectrum are we going for? The WinUI color picker is pretty broad on what colors are what.
• Where would this show up?
  
  
  
  • Possible to do a quick doodle for location(s)
  
  

[htcfreek]

The truth is: I thought hey we could use the newly free space for the colour name. And that could be a nice idea. I didn't really thought about a use case.

[crutkas]

@htcfreek why I stress for use case is it clearly helps define why it is being implemented and the priority of work. If there is a question later on, we can reference back and go "nope, intentionally like that".

It also helps us understand the details for implementation. While not color based, but Think about padding coordinates for XAML vs HTML, one starts left, the other starts top. Building a tool, knowing the target determines output.

[Aaron-Junker]

It could be used for color blind people

[crutkas]

It could be used for color blind people

Not denying the accessibility angle, but the issue is fidelity of naming and as stated earlier, how that color would be used

[niels9001]

I like how PowerPoint does it: only showing the color. When paused, it shows a tooltip that displays the color name and hex value.

cc @martinchrzan

[htcfreek]

@niels9001, @crutkas
Would be interesting, which name convention PP is using?

[martinchrzan]

Interesting! But it feels a little slow, that you always have to stop and wait to get that info

[TobiasSekan]

Hello,

I have no idea how many people would use this, but a few examples.
But for this we need a range for each color name, without this it is not useful.

| Color name | Useful for |
| - | - |
| CSS | Web developers they would only use web save colors (140 colors are web saved) |
| e.g. RAL | For model builder they would use color to painting the model (or parts of it) |
| e.g. RAL, NCS | For your home, when you found a color and you want paint your room in this color or buy furniture in this color |
| Resene ??? | For painters they would use a color for a picture |

[Jay-o-Way]

Someone posted an earlier issue that mentioned this specidic example.

You mean #6478?

[AndreaMele]

For colour impaired, it would be nice to not just have a named display of what Colour Name but also along with its Hue Name.

Example from Color Name & Hue

• His naming convention is really great, and the HUE information is super helpful

Original Source JavaScript Code from Name that Color

• The color names in this list were found via Wikipedia, Crayola, and Color-Name Dictionaries like Resene. I removed duplicates and manually edited the list for consistency.

I personally like the colour list of names from the Crayola, and Color-Name Dictionaries as they are more easily understood than some more particular naming conventions in the other lists linked above.

Here is a great example from the example from Color Name & Hue

[mdtauk]

Can you not use the Tooltip text the WinUI ColorPicker uses?

[martinchrzan]

We can, we got an approval to use internal algo that is "calculating" this name in WinUI, we plan to integrate it.

[crutkas]

following up here, we got approval so it should use same alg as ColorPicker.

@mdtauk Reason why we can't use that is this project has no dependency on WinUI

[mdtauk]

following up here, we got approval so it should use same alg as ColorPicker.

@mdtauk Reason why we can't use that is this project has no dependency on WinUI

It didn't have to use WinUI itself (although I assumed it all would be using WinUI eventually)

But using the same code is as good.

[Halkenguard]

@crutkas To follow up about a use-case, I was the OP of #6478. Since I'm color blind, a lot of times I'm using colors in a design or looking at a color and I make a guess on what the title of that color would be. My clients tend to not be color blind, and ask for things by color name. Or, I'll get sent an excel document and my coworker asks me to look at the cells highlighted in a specific color that they've named, but I have no idea which cells to look at because they've used colors that are too similar for my eyes to differentiate. Being able to quickly hit my color-picker shortcut to get the name of the color that's on my screen would be a godsend and would eliminate the need for me to go back to clients or coworkers and say "Is this right? Sorry, I'm color blind."

As for where the info would show up, I made a mock-up when I originally proposed the idea in #6478