2008.05.30 Color Palette Generator

Steve at DeGraeve.com wins. It's not like there was a competition, just insane jealousy on my part. Sure, there are some options out there that let you upload a picture and it'll generate a decent palette for you. I didn't/don't want to be tied to somebody else's tool like that, and their generated palettes weren't as nice as Steve's. So, I looked around and tried out a couple pre-made options which I modified and hosted myself – but the colors generated by them just weren't right. (sorry, but I can't find all the links to the different things I tried)

Finally, I tried brewing my own, using a whole family of PHP functions with which I wasn't entirely familiar, and which didn't get me much further than the pre-made solutions. No matter what I did, though, I couldn't communicate in PHP what I wanted to do with the information I had. Unfortunately (or fortunately), since I work with databases all day, when I deal with arrays, they're just a bit sloppy, and don't behave how I think they should.

I knew it was going to be an uphill battle once I realized I was just trying to replicate somebody else's work. As we all know, a copy rarely turns out as good as the original. Why bother with this? I want(ed) to dynamically generate a color palette (which could be plugged into a CSS file through some magic) and have the accompanying photo show as well - to give the photos a better visual continuity. It's somewhat similar to what Dave Shea has going on, but a bit more dynamic. Who knows, maybe I'll still go through with it, but I don't see myself trying to do the full, on-the-fly palette generation. </geekiness>

Tag(s): blogging