TIP 70: Use Color Shortcut Menus

Normally, you apply a color to something by selecting the object, selecting the color field that corresponds to the selected object, and then picking a swatch from the Swatches palette or mixing a color in the Color palette. This works fine, but you might have noticed that there's a small black triangle in the bottom right corner of every color field throughout GoLive. When you click and hold on the black corner triangles, you get access to a convenient popup swatch picker where you can make instant color changes (Figure 70a). You can also Control-click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) anywhere in the color field to open the swatch shortcut menus.

Figure 70a. Pick colors quickly from the swatch shortcut menus in every color field.

Places to Use Color Shortcut Menus

Color fields exist in many different parts of GoLive, including the toolbar, the CSS Editor, the Highlight section of the View palette, and several Inspectors.

Shortcut to Adobe Color Picker

If you don't want to choose a color from a Swatch palette, a quick way to access the Adobe color picker from any color field is to simply double-click on it! Select a color from the color picker and then choose OK. The color you chose will appear in the color field.

That's handy, but what makes these hidden menus really powerful is that you can choose which set of swatches is shown when you open them. You can select any of the installed color swatches, including the popular VisiBone swatches, from the bottom of the pull-down menu (Figure 70b).

Figure 70b. You can customize the swatch set that is available in the color fields.