14 DAY TRIAL // Development environments and programming tools don't usually provide an easy graphical way to establish the layout of a page or its alignment and inspect its on-screen appearance. The Iconfactory presents xScope, a collection of 7 tools that help you create the perfect layout for your projects and designs.
The Looks
xScope has a compact interface, made up of a small window containing buttons for all the functions it provides. If you don't even want to see this small window because you need to have the workspace free of any additional windows, you can just close it and use the buttons displayed in the menu bar.
The Works
xScope is a software package made up of 7 independent graphical tools that will enhance your design experience. They provide a wide variety of functions, starting from measuring any dimensions on your screen to magnifying a selected area and inserting different guidelines on your desktop. To make sure we cover the entire range of xScope features, I'll briefly present each function provided in the collection.
Dimensions follows the cursor, showing you the distances between the margins of the current space. It's very useful to verify the alignment of a text, the space between two paragraphs or the width of a column, to give just a few examples. Aside from the default measurements, Dimensions also helps you determine the size of a rectangular shape using its Shrink mode, which you can access by pressing Command-Shift-5. You draw the shape with the mouse and xScope shows a small window under it, displaying the width and height of your selection. So, if you need to measure anything on your screen, Dimensions is the perfect solution. The Rulers button shows a small ruler on your desktop that you can move, resize and even rotate, thus enhancing the measuring capabilities of Dimensions.
The next function is Screens, which enables you to view your projects at a smaller scale. It also gives you the possibility to check how your design would look like in a browser and all you have to do is select one of the provided browser area templates and the appropriate screen resolution. The Loupe is probably the most intuitive feature of all. It acts as a magnifying glass for the area in which your cursor is located and it also displays some color information.
Guides is a very simple tool that allows you to place any number of horizontal and vertical guidelines on your screen. The guides can be moved, they can link to each other and they are very useful in establishing the layout of your design. If you're dealing with different areas in your design, a tool better than Guides is Frames, which lets you draw as many frames as you need and shows a small toolbar for each frame. From this toolbar, you can configure the size of the frame as well as the grid options but you can also take snapshots of its content.
The last tool that xScope has to offer is Crosshair, which helps you locate points on your screen. Crosshair shows the position of cursor, which is relative to the upper-left corner of the screen. By using a simple key shortcut you can easily change the Crosshair origin from the upper-left corner to another location.
The functions of xScope work with all the windows displayed on your screen, without interfering with their activities. The tools are pretty intuitive and easy to use, but if you don't fully understand their working mode, you're welcome to check the help feature of the program, which describes every possible action in detail.
The Good
To its target users, xScope comes as a true helping-hand, solving many small issues in alignment, layouts and all types of measurements very fast. It's efficient and easy to use, a valuable addition to a developer's software collection.
The Bad
The only thing to mention on this topic is the fact that the unregistered version of xScope shows nag screens from time to time, interfering with your workflow. Still, this doesn't influence the performance of the program, since the functions of the application aren't restricted in any way.
The Truth
xScope is a truly useful collection of tools for designers and software developers. The average users may not find the functionality of the software very relevant due to the fact that it's targeted to a relatively small group of people. But if you want to have some fun measuring windows on your desktop, zooming an image or viewing the pre-defined browser screen-size templates, you can enjoy xScope for a total of 40 hours of free use. If you decide to use xScope after the trial period you should purchase a license for $26.95.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
