Color Picker
Pick a color — get HEX, RGB, HSL, shades and contrast hint
Shades (same hue & saturation)
Click a shade to copy its HSL value
Color Picker — Complete Guide & Instructions
MakeCard Color Picker turns any colour into every code you need. Use the native colour well to select a shade and HEX, RGB and HSL values appear instantly — each with its own Copy button. A nine-step shade strip (same hue and saturation, varying lightness) generates an instant palette you can click to copy, and a live contrast swatch tells you whether white or dark text reads best on your chosen colour.
How to Use Color Picker
- 1 Click the colour swatch and pick a colour with the native picker.
- 2 Copy the HEX, RGB or HSL value from the labelled rows.
- 3 Browse the Shades strip — nine lightness steps of your colour.
- 4 Click any shade to copy its HSL value directly.
- 5 Check the contrast banner — it tells you whether white or dark text works on your colour.
Key Features & Capabilities
- Instant HEX, RGB and HSL output for any colour.
- Individual copy button per format.
- Auto-generated 9-shade palette preserving hue and saturation.
- Click-to-copy HSL on every shade swatch.
- Live readability hint — “use white text” or “use dark text”.
- Uppercase HEX output for direct stylesheet use.
Supported Formats & Specifications
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Input | Native colour picker |
| Formats | HEX, RGB, HSL |
| Palette | 9 shades, fixed hue/saturation, varying lightness |
| Extra | WCAG-style text-contrast hint (light vs dark) |
| Processing | Instant, in-browser |
Practical Everyday Use Cases
- Converting a brand colour from the picker into CSS-ready HEX/RGB/HSL.
- Building a tint-shade palette for buttons, hovers and backgrounds.
- Checking whether white text will be readable on a chosen brand colour.
- Grabbing a quick palette for a slide deck or poster.
- Matching accent shades around a primary UI colour.
Pro Tips for Best Results
- Copy HSL for design tokens — it is far easier to reason about lightness adjustments in HSL than HEX.
- The shade strip uses fixed hue and saturation — darken or lighten without colour drift.
- Test the contrast hint before committing text colours; the banner shows the safer foreground.
- For darker variants of a brand colour, pick from the shade strip rather than black-mixing in code.
Common Problems & Solutions
Check the format — some apps want #RRGGBB with the hash, others bare HEX, HSL or RGB; copy the row matching the required syntax.
Very light or very saturated base colours produce subtle shade steps — pick a mid-tone base for a more dramatic palette.
Privacy & Security
100% Client-Side Execution
Colour selection and conversion run entirely in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about using Color Picker
Pick the colour (or its HEX) — the RGB row shows the equivalent instantly, ready to copy.
HEX and RGB describe the same red-green-blue mix differently; HSL describes hue, saturation and lightness — the tool shows all three for every colour.
The shades strip generates nine lightness steps of the same hue — click any swatch to copy its HSL code.
The contrast banner answers exactly that — it computes luminance and recommends white or dark text for readability.
Yes — unlimited picks, copies and palettes with no sign-up.
Related FreeToolsBazaar Tools
Ready to Use Color Picker?
100% free, browser-based, and private. No installation, registration, or file upload to external servers required.
Start Using Color Picker