TOKYO (MacHouse) – When I run out of software development ideas, I often get on the Internet and meaninglessly visit one web site after another. This time, a screenshot of an iOS game has caught my eyes. And I have thought to myself “Hmm… I wonder if there’s a simple way of creating that text image?” As a result, I submitted a new software release to Mac App Store several hours ago. This new software title is called Text n Colors.
Tom Bluewater
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Tom Bluewater
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Text n Colors is a desktop application that lets you create text with letters of alternating colors. You select one or more colors to create a color list, which will be temporarily saved in a drop-down menu. Text n Colors sets the fill color of each letter according to this list. You can save text as an image file or a rich text file to your disk.
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Features
- Save text as an image file or a rich text file to your disk.
- Save any number of color lists.
- Rename a color list by selecting its parent name. (Version 1.1.4) Choose Rename Colors under Color.
- Do or do not apply a stroke with a color of your selection to text.
- Save all current settings by choosing Save Settings under Text n Colors. Choose Load Settings to load saved settings.
- Create a list of gradually-shifting colors with two colors you select. (Version 1.1.0)
- Change the horizontal alignment of the text you create when you have two more lines. (Press Control + Return to enter a new line.) (Version 1.1.0)
- Reshuffle color elements on the text color drop-down menu. (Version 1.1.4) Choose Randomize Color Elements under Color.
- The application supports the fullScreen mode.
- The application supports the retina screen. (tested with 2014 2.6 GHz 13″ MacBook Pro)
- Languages: English only.
- Application file size: 15.1 MB.
- The application comes with a built-in 17-page user guide. Choose Show Quick Tour under Text n Colors whenever you need to see it.
System requirements
- 10.8 (tested with 10.8.5), 10.9 (not tested), 10.10 (tested with 10.10.0,10.10.5), 10.11 (tested with 10.11.1)
- 64-bit system
Limitations
- A styled text image you produce will have resolutions of 144 dpi x 144 dpi with a Retina display only when you select JPEG, PNG, TIFF as an export format.
- Not all fonts you have installed on your system support the bold and italic typefaces. If the font you select does not support either of them, the application will fall back on the its default typeface.
- This application is designed to work with a short text string. It does not have a scroll view to enclose the whole text output when the user sets a long string. In order to see the entire text output, the user needs to enlarge the application window.
Version history
Version 1.3.0 (Released on November 28, 2016)
- The user can now save a list of colors (as hexadecimal values) as a text file. For this purpose, choose Save HTML Color List As Text under File.
Version 1.2.0 (Released on June 13, 2016)
- The user now has options of assigning or not assigning an alternating color to a white space. Enable the checkbox titled ‘Don’t assign an alternating color to a white space’ to not assigning an alternating colors to a white space. (See General Settings in Preferences.)
- Quick Tour is updated for the above changes.
Version 1.1.5 (Released on March 7, 2016)
- Fix: The application could crash when the user chose Remove Colors under Color.
Version 1.1.4
The details of this update have been lost. Sorry…
Version 1.1.0 (Released on December 29, 2015)
- The user can now control the horizontal alignment of the text you create with two or more lines.
- The user can now create a list of gradually-shifting colors with two colors of their choice. Click on the Create Gradual toolbar button.
- Some minor changes and fixes are done.
Trial/Demo version
Click here to download a trial version. This trial version will remain fully functional for 7 days, starting from the very moment you first launch it.
Video tutorial
There is no video tutorial at this time.
Text n Colors is a product of Tom Bluewater.
Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Mac App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.
Hi, you wrote in the description:
> You should note that a white space is considered as a letter. And a color will be assigned accordingly although it’s invisible.
I would like to have an option for ignoring white space.
Many thanks!
Thank you for your using Text n Colors. I see what you mean. That cannot easily be done, though. But I’ll see if that’s possible.
Thanks. Maybe…
If char.type=whitespace then skip char (don’t colorize)
… or similar?
No. It won’t be that simple. I think the only way of doing it (1) to save in an array the positions where a white space occurs, (2) to remove all white spaces and then to alternate colors for each letter, (3) to finally insert white spaces to their original positions according to the array in (1). It may take me a few days to figure out how to actually do it.
Oh! (I once wrote a Macro for Word for that purpose – long long ago! – where I did it similarly.)
I think I’ve got it. It’s past mid-night now here. So I have to go to bed. I have to run a rigorous test to see if everything is all right tomorrow. So I’ll talk to you later. Good day…
Rainer,
I have submitted a software update to Mac App Store several minutes ago. It should be accepted and be available in a day or two. Thank you for your feature request.
Many thanks! (23:44 in the UK)
Just downloaded it. Great! Thanks.
You are very welcome.