I’m pleased to report that kuler, Adobe’s Web-hosted application for exploring, creating and sharing color harmonies, can now be accessed from your desktop via Adobe’s Apollo technology. After a sneak peek at the CS3 launch event, the "kuler desktop" is now available for download on Adobe Labs, along with the required Apollo Runtime environment.
The kuler desktop offers the same RSS feed functionality as the kuler Dashboard widget but with a new form factor (see quick clip of it in action). Users can view RSS feeds of the highest rated, most popular, and newest themes from the kuler site, search the thousands of titled and tagged themes, search by kuler user name, and copy theme hex values to the clipboard.
For other cool Apollo bits, check out the technology showcase on Labs.
Note: By default, kuler installed itself on my Mac using my user Applications directory, rather than in the root Applications directory that I normally use. This isn’t a big deal, and you can easily change the install location, but I mention it in case you find yourself wondering where the app has been installed.
It’s good to have a physically small app to copy hex colors from (does it drag? The widget version does, but it’s in widget land). A smart person recently made a free hex color picker: http://wafflesoftware.net/hexpicker/ so we’ll see which works best.
As noted in your “New Adobe Exchange goes live” post, html is still a bit more usable. Sites like http://colorblender.com/ and http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/top are very helpful as html gizmos (er, I mean Rich Internet Applications. Lets call them “RIAs” to make the marketing guys feel needed). Kuler is nice and works, but you have to sit through those annoying easing tweens and fades. Plus if it’s a desktop app, why does it open into web pages for the details (With the sample sites above, you’re already in a browser)?
Kuler does look good though (I thought Adobe apps had new gradient squares… Kuler has some sort of glaxo-type logo).
Kuler’s a bit clunky and slow, and the widget is feature un-rich. Seems like a fun project for the Apollo kids but not the best solution.
I’d rather see Kuler integrated into the UI of each app in a new Adobe-wide color model. Something that combined aspect of features of the Discreet color UI, Color Theory, and even the old Flash killer Adobe LiveMotion.
[Why do you think I want Flash-based palettes in Photoshop so badly? 😉 Seriously, I think that having them would open a massive door for developers & end users alike. –J.]