Inch ruler. mySize Screen Ruler - free software for web developers and designers

Not so long ago, I had to review one program in the description of which it was necessary to specify the exact length and width of the toolbar. As you understand, there could be no question of determining the dimensions “by eye”, the length and width had to be indicated exactly and not in centimeters and millimeters, but in pixels.

Arigato Ruler

Then I decided to try another free line - Arigato Ruler. Unlike Screen Ruler, it has a clearer division scale and plus a customizable screen magnifier. And besides, with its help, you can measure the color and determine the exact position of the mouse cursor in space. Transparency, reflection, background change, position change, color value copying are supported.

You can move Arigato Ruler around the screen either with the mouse or with the arrows (the latter gives high precision). By the way, it is also portable.

Universal Desktop Ruler

If this is not enough for you, I can offer another tool, however, this time it is paid - Universal Desktop Ruler - a universal screen ruler.

With it, you can measure not only the width and height of an object, but also the area and perimeter. In addition, Universal Desktop Ruler can measure angles, the length of oblique lines, count the number of objects on the screen, and also save the history of previously made measurements to a log. Download Universal Desktop Ruler 3.6:

Need to measure something but don't have a ruler handy? This situation is no longer surprising - after all, finding a smartphone or monitor near you has become much easier than a real ruler, caliper or other tool that measures length :)

Today I will tell you about three services that solve the problem of measuring any object in centimeters better than anyone else. I studied something like a couple of dozen online rulers and chose only those that give a minimum error of a few millimeters and allow calibration (adjustment of real dimensions) for the most accurate measurement.

1. Piliapp

This on-screen ruler has a length of 30 cm. When you enter the site, the service algorithm automatically determines the diagonal of your monitor so that the ruler on the screen is displayed in full size.

Sometimes the algorithm is slightly wrong and gives a measurement error of +/- 5mm. That is why I recommend manually specifying the diagonal if you know it. To do this, click on the green button and in the window that opens, indicate the number of inches of your screen.

There are many more reliable way improve measurement accuracy. To do this, click on the button “I don’t know my screen size” and on the page that opens, attach any of your bank cards (in all countries of the world they have same size) to the template. Move the zoom slider until the screen template and your map are the same size.

By performing this kind of calibration, you can be 100% sure that the virtual ruler will exactly match the real one. Link

2. Ruler

This ruler by default measures dimensions in inches, so we need to immediately switch the metric system to the usual centimeters:

In this service, you yourself need to specify the diagonal of your screen in the appropriate box by selecting it from the list or by entering an arbitrary number, and click the “Calibrate” button.

If you don't know the exact number, hold your bank card to the screen and select the screen size from the list until the right edge of the card matches the left edge of the corresponding icon on the ruler.

By doing this, you can be sure that subsequent measurements will be accurate.

3.Lineykasm

Third online service has all the necessary instructions for measuring and calibrating in Russian.

Therefore, I will only note its main difference from the two previous ones: you can manually calibrate the on-screen ruler using not only a credit card, but also such items as:

• Matchbox
• A4 sheet of paper
• Banknote (dollar, ruble, hryvnia)
• CD disc

If anyone is interested, then this service also makes it possible to print the ruler on paper. There are two options to choose from: a standard length of 30 cm and a 12-inch with fraction markings.

Web designers often need to determine the size of an object on the screen. And it is not always enough to look at the properties of an object for this. In such situations, help special utilities, allowing you to measure items anywhere on the screen. MySize also belongs to such programs.

The first thing that captivates in this free program is simplicity and convenience. No unnecessary actions, unnecessary buttons and settings. When it's inactive, it becomes semi-transparent so it doesn't block other windows. All we see at startup is the ruler.

And it does not need to be applied to measure. Instead, we stretch it horizontally or vertically, immediately determining the size. Positioning the edges of the ruler is very simple - just move the cursor to the edge and, holding the left mouse button, move it.

The small buttons at the edges of the ruler are designed to accurately stretch the ruler by 1 pixel.

You can move the entire ruler around the screen, like any window. For more precise movement, you can click the arrows in the corner of the ruler. An alternative option is the control keys.

The size is always displayed on the ruler.

mySize has another useful feature called screener. Its essence is that you can simultaneously stretch both rulers by moving this same screener. It is displayed strictly at the intersection of the rulers and is indicated by a red marker. You can turn it on by pressing the key. S or through the menu. It is very convenient to adjust the ruler to the object on the screen using the screener.

The program has a menu, you can call it by clicking in the corner of the ruler.

Through the mySize menu, you can configure a few more ruler parameters.

Measurement– allows you to select the unit of measurement displayed when working with the ruler. Our choice of pixels, centimeters or inches.

Settings- includes three items:
Display on top of all windows– enabling this option allows the ruler to always remain visible;
Show on taskbar- to display the program button in the Taskbar, since by default it is displayed only in the system tray;
Screener– inclusion of the screener already considered earlier.

Rulers– contains two items for enabling/disabling the horizontal or vertical rulers. By default, both rulers are displayed at once.

moving– this menu property allows you to configure the strict movement of the ruler only along one of the axes - X or Y. By default, in mySize, movement is performed along both axes. So, holding the left Shift and by moving the cursor, you can only move the ruler horizontally. Same with the left ctrl you can achieve a shift of the ruler strictly vertically.

Hide- selecting this item in the menu causes the ruler to collapse to tray. To return the mySize ruler to the screen, just double-click on the program icon in the tray.

Finally, let's talk about another useful feature of the utility - the ability to create a screenshot. It appears only when the screener is turned on - the item appears in the menu Take an image. For those who like to do everything using the keyboard, the key will help C . Anything between the rulers and screener guides can be saved to a file.

in a separate window Preview we will see a screenshot and a button [Save]. mySize saves the screenshot in JPG, BMP or PNG format.

How to organize in Windows environment an on-screen pixel ruler to measure the length and height of windows or other interface elements and fit them to your size? Such a specific task may not only be faced by designers or developers, but also by ordinary users working with documents or projects of their specialized software. Consider below the three programs for the implementation of the screen ruler.

1. S.P.Ruler

SPRuler - small free utility SPRuler is designed for nothing more than to display on Windows screen screen pixel ruler. It displays two scales: at the top with an interval of 10 pixels, at the bottom - 8 pixels. Scales are swapped in options context menu. In the same place, we can change the orientation from horizontal to vertical, apply a light or dark color for the ruler, and adjust its transparency. It increases or decreases by the usual pulling over the edges or by specifying a specific value in the options. Copies of the ruler with horizontal and vertical orientation can be launched as you like. There is support for hotkeys.

2. Window Ruler

Window Ruler is another free minimalist utility that implements both a horizontal and a vertical ruler in the Windows environment. But not only pixel size, the sizes of objects on the screen can also be measured in points (typographical points), inches, centimeters and millimeters. Enlargement and reduction of the ruler is carried out by pulling the edges. The dimensions of the screen area specified in the ruler window are displayed in the lower right corner of this area. The Window Ruler does not provide for the possibility of manually entering size values, but it does have options for setting five areas with standard screen sizes.

3. FastStone Capture

The on-screen ruler is part of a functional paid screenshoter - the FastStone Capture program. This is an option for complex work on creating screenshots with fitting Windows interface elements to the desired dimensions. For example, for embedding in documents, presentations, other projects of content creation programs, publishing on the Internet. The FastStone Capture ruler is switched from horizontal to vertical by double-clicking on it, and resizing is done by dragging the edges. There is no possibility to set the sizes manually, but there is an option to display a small interval of the scale, to which the cursor is placed, on an enlarged scale. The preset pixel units can be changed to inches or centimeters. The color and transparency of the ruler is customizable. For ease of launch, it can be added to the floating QuickStone Capture Operations Toolbar.