I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I noticed a subtle update to Google Chrome. The New Tab page got a makeover, adding dynamic customization capability. Other updates include faster javascript, a more informative Omnibox (i.e. the search/URL bar), and support for themes. From what I’ve noticed so far Chrome is noticeably snappier. While I like the original Chrome theme I also think Glossy Blue is quite attractive.

Google has more details about the update on the Chrome Blog

Lately I’ve been ramping my Web design skills back up in order to get a couple of websites up and running for my wife’s businesses. Color schemes are one thing that are not one of my stronger suites.  I always find it difficult to put together a group of colors that I’m happy with. There are plenty of free color pickers and even some color scheme tools.  However, none of them seem to be an all-encompassing tool that does it all.

That is, until I read a recent post over at devloung.net that mentions a tool called Color Scheme Designer.  This tool has it all from the rich, user-friendly interface (including super-helpful tooltips) to the example web pages that let you see your color scheme in action. Add to that the ability to enable different color models (e.g. mono, compliment, triad, and others) as well as “undo/redo” multiple times.  It even has “vision simulations” that let you test your scheme for different levels of color blindness.  I could waste hours playing with Color Scheme Designer!

Do you use any color tools that you can’t live without?