Screen millimeter ruler for windows 7. Work tools that can be replaced by a smartphone

Utility useful for web designers, programmers, photographers, artists, those who deal with digital images (pictures, photographs, icons, etc.). Program SPRuler is an electronic ruler for measuring distances and sizes of objects on the monitor screen in pixels. The program is free, convenient, minimizes to the system tray, supports Russian and English.

Ruler program

Electronic ruler(or digital ruler if you can call it that) looks like a real one, the design provides for light and dark shades of the tool with a scale section line and transparency settings. The ruler moves very smoothly across the screen. The ruler displays two types of scale at intervals of 10 and 8 pixels. It is possible to clone an already running ruler and place SPRuler on top of all windows. When starting the program, the length of the ruler is automatically adjusted depending on the screen resolution (up to a maximum of 2048 pixels). The tool rotates quickly to a horizontal and vertical position. SPRuler supports the function of automatic start at the start of the operating system.

SPRuler installation note:

If you are installing SPRuler on a computer running Windows 95/98 / ME / NT, for the utility to work properly, you will need to copy (replace) the "\ dll \ oleaut32.dll" file to "C: \ WINDOWS \ SYSTEM \". If you are installing SPRuler under Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008 / x7, run the installation distribution kit as Administrator.

In the process of optimizing some elements of the site, it is very important to observe proportionality, otherwise the web project will turn into a miserable unattractive sight. It's one thing when a person is designing on a piece of paper. In this case, you can use a pencil and ruler. Quite different circumstances arise when actions need to be performed within the monitor. Under these circumstances, you should use the free mySize program.

MySize screen ruler Is a great, extremely easy-to-use tool for measuring the length and width of items displayed on a computer screen.

Under what circumstances can an on-screen ruler come in handy?

Working with graphic elements (editing images in accordance with the necessary parameters).

Editing the site (measuring the parameters of the site header, sidebar, associated with the need to make changes to the design of the resource).

The mySize ruler is a first-class helper that was previously sorely lacking for all webmasters and web developers. The program has 3 measurement modes:

In pixels.

In centimeters.

Inches.

mySize - Installation Features

The installation of this software is no different and is performed in the standard Windows sequence. We launch the installer, after which a window will pop up with the welcome of the installation wizard. We click the "Next" button, read the license agreement, accept the terms (the "Accept" button) and click "Next" again. Select the folder for installation - Next. We are waiting for 20 seconds, after which such a shortcut will appear on the desktop.

Well, the screen ruler is installed.

To open the program, double-click the left mouse button on the shortcut. The instrument has the following design.

Screen ruler mySize - subtleties of work

As you can see, this is an ordinary double-sided ruler, with not quite ordinary features. To open the system menu, left-click in the area where two rulers are adjacent (1).

You can move the on-screen ruler by holding down the mouse. If you need to perform a minimum shift, use the special arrows located near the menu (2).

The free value is changed by the sliders located at the end of the horizontal and vertical rulers (3).

The need for a slight movement of the ruler is carried out using the buttons for moving the sliders (4).

mySize - ruler settings

Pressing the menu brings up a window with settings tabs.

Hide - the tab that hides the program. After clicking the program shortcut is displayed in the tray.

Measurement - specifies parameters in pixels, centimeters, or inches.

Settings - a tab that allows you to configure the display of the program on top of all windows or on the taskbar. As mentioned in passing, this is not an ordinary ruler, providing an opportunity not only to measure an object, but also to take a screenshot of it. To do this, press the "S" hotkey.

This will call additional elements in the form of two red lines, forming a rectangular area.

Rulers - select a horizontal or vertical ruler.

Movement - only along the X-axis, then the Y-axis is locked. Only along the Y-axis, then the X-axis is locked.

Also among the settings is a detailed user manual, information about the program, a link to the developer's website and the "Exit" tab.

Use it to your health. That's all for me. Thank you for your attention and see you soon on the Stimylrosta pages.

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

1. SPRuler

SPRuler - a small free utility SPRuler is not intended for anything more than displaying a screen pixel ruler on the Windows screen. It displays two scales: at the top with an interval of 10 pixels, at the bottom - 8 pixels. The scales are swapped in the context menu options. In the same place, we can change the orientation from horizontal to vertical, apply light or dark colors of the ruler, adjust its transparency. It increases or decreases by the usual pulling off the edges or by specifying a specific value in the options. Copies of the ruler with horizontal and vertical orientation can be launched as desired. There is support for hot keys.

2. Window Ruler

Window Ruler is another free minimalistic utility that implements both horizontal and vertical rulers in the Windows environment. But not only pixel, the sizes of objects on the screen can also be measured in points (typographic points), inches, centimeters and millimeters. The ruler is enlarged and reduced by pulling off the edges. The dimensions of the screen area specified in the window are displayed in the lower right corner of this area. Window Ruler does not provide the ability to manually enter size values, but it does have options for setting five areas with standard screen sizes.

3. FastStone Capture

The on-screen ruler is included in the functional paid screenshoter - the FastStone Capture program. This is an option for complex work on creating screenshots with adjusting the elements of the Windows interface to the desired dimensions. For example, for implementation in documents, presentations, other projects of programs for creating content, publishing on the Internet. The FastStone Capture ruler can be switched from horizontal to vertical by double-clicking on it; its size is changed by dragging it off the edges. There is no possibility of manual dimensioning, but there is an option to display a small scale interval, to which the cursor is brought, in an enlarged scale. The predefined units of measurement in pixels can be changed to inches or centimeters. The color and transparency of the ruler is customizable. For ease of launching it can be added to the floating quick access toolbar for FastStone Capture operations.

It is not uncommon for web designers to determine the size of an object on the screen. And it is not always enough to look at the properties of the object for this. In such situations, special utilities come to the rescue that allow you to measure elements in any part of the screen. MySize also belongs to such programs.

The first thing that wins over in this free program is its simplicity and convenience. No unnecessary actions, unnecessary buttons and settings. When inactive, it becomes translucent so it does not obstruct other windows. All we see at launch is a ruler.

Moreover, it does not need to be applied to be measured. Instead, we stretch it horizontally or vertically, immediately defining the size. It is very simple to position the edges of the ruler - just move the cursor to the edge and hold down the left mouse button and move it.

Small buttons at the edges of the ruler are designed to precisely 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 provides another useful function 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.

Several more ruler parameters can be configured through the mySize menu.

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

Settings- includes three points:
Show on top of all windows- enabling this option allows the ruler to always remain in sight;
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 previously discussed screener.

Rulers- contains two items designed to enable / disable horizontal or vertical rulers. By default, both rulers are displayed at once.

Moving- this property of the menu allows you to set the strict movement of the ruler along only one of the axes - X or Y. By default, movement along both axes is performed in mySize. So holding left Shift and by moving the cursor, you can only move the ruler horizontally. Likewise with the left Ctrl you can achieve the offset of the ruler strictly vertically.

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

Finally, we will tell you about another useful function of the utility - the ability to create a screenshot. It appears only when the screener is turned on - an item appears in the menu Take picture... For those who like to do everything using the keyboard, the key will help C ... Anything between the rulers and the 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.

In this review, we'll take a look at on-screen rulers, tape measures, levels and metal detectors for Android. Sensors and various elements of the smartphone allow you to create other tools - for example, a compass, speedometer, sound level meter. But due to the fact that such tools are rarely used in everyday life, they are not included in the review.

The selection of applications in each category was made based on their popularity in the Play Market. Testing conducted using an Honor 5A smartphone.

The idea behind this type of application is very simple; it does not require any special sensors at all. A ruler is displayed on the screen, which needs to be calibrated to real values, and it will be ready for use.

⇡ Ruler

The application is developed by Xalpha Lab and does not support Russian. But it has over a million downloads in the Play Market, so the program can be considered one of the most popular lines for Android.

After launching the application, two lines appear on the screen - on the left and on the top. With their help, you can determine the size of a small object that fits on the screen. The origin is in the upper left corner of the screen and cannot be moved.

In order for the measurements to be correct, the ruler must be calibrated (for example, after starting the program, it determined the screen length to be nine centimeters, when in fact it is more than eleven). For calibration, you can use a regular ruler or some object of known length. But if such an object or ruler was not at hand, then an ordinary credit card or coins, the sizes of which are known to the program, are suitable for calibration. Unfortunately, the program does not know the size of Russian coins, and only coins of the USA, European Union, Canada, Australia, Great Britain or Sweden are suitable for calibration.

The user has access to both the metric system of measurement and imperial, in inches. Supports night mode to save battery power.

The program can memorize the measurement by writing it down in history. This is convenient when you measure several items at once. But during testing, the application did not save history for some reason.

⇡ "Ruler: Smart Ruler"

The application was developed by Smart Tools, which has created a whole package of working tools for smartphones - a compass, a metal detector, a sound level meter, and so on. The program is completely Russified. In the free version of the application, ads will be shown to the user, and in the paid version, in addition to the on-screen ruler, there is a protractor, a set of templates for determining the pitch and profile of the thread (thread gauge), a level and other tools.

After starting the application, the ruler, like in Ruler, needs to be calibrated. But this can only be done manually by measuring the length of the screen and entering the data in the calibration field.

Unlike Ruler, in the Ruler: Smart Ruler app you can measure objects by placing them in the middle of the screen and indicating the beginning and end. However, you cannot measure the length and width of an item at the same time in the free version of the application. It is not possible to save the measurement results here either. But the application allows you to measure an object longer than the screen - for this you can move the ruler to the left along with the object.

The units of measurement can be either inches or centimeters.

⇡ "Ruler"

The application was released by the Russian developer NixGame, which offers users other similar working tools. In the free version, you will have to put up with ads, and saving the measurement results will not be available.

To calibrate, you need to attach a real ruler to the screen and move the screen ruler so that the divisions coincide. To measure the length, you can use either side of the screen like a regular ruler, put an object on the screen and manually set the start and end points, and measure the length and width of a rectangular object at the same time.

As with other apps, you can measure items in centimeters and inches. The app supports night mode and screen rotation.

To create tools of this type, you usually need to have an augmented reality library from Google - ARCore. But there are applications that can determine the distance to an object using the laws of trigonometry, using the data on the angle of inclination of the smartphone, which they receive from the gyroscope.

AR Ruler App

AR Ruler application was developed by the Belarusian company Grymala. The program uses augmented reality (AR) technology to measure distances and sizes of objects.

The program can measure linear dimensions of objects (in metric system or inches), distance from the device camera to a point on a plane, angles on 3D planes, area or perimeter of an object (both rectangular and polygonal and round), volume of three-dimensional objects, path length taken by a smartphone, the height of objects (for example, a doorway or furniture). There is also a simple on-screen ruler in the application.

AR Ruler requires the ARCore library from Google, which can be installed on smartphones with Android 7.0 and higher. To improve the accuracy of measurements, the developer advises to take three measurements or more and focus on the average value.

⇡ Measure

The application is developed by Google itself. Like the previous one, it allows you to measure the linear dimensions of objects, the distance from the camera to the object (like a tape measure), the height of objects, and so on.

You can take a snapshot of the measurement and copy the results to the clipboard.

⇡ "Rangefinder: Smart Measure"

The program was developed by Smart Tools, as well as the already reviewed "Ruler: Smart Ruler" application. "Rangefinder: Smart Measure" can measure the distance to the object and its height. The principle of the program is based on trigonometry. The ARCore library is not required, so this "roulette" can be used on smartphones with Android 4.0 and higher.

To measure the distance to the object and its height, you must first, aiming the cross at the base of the object, press the button on the screen, and then do the same for the upper point. Then the program will calculate the distance to the object and its height. For the best measurement accuracy, the smartphone must be held at a height of 30 cm less than your height.

The program provides for manual calibration: the user is required to measure the real distance to the object and its height and indicate how many percent the values ​​measured by the program differ from the actual ones. When tested, the program showed pretty good results, differing from the real ones by no more than 5%. According to reviews on Google Play, it can be judged that not in all cases the measurements are so accurate. Perhaps it depends on the smartphone model.

This type of application uses the device's gyroscope and accelerometer to determine the angle of deflection on either side of the smartphone or its back.

⇡ "Laser Level - Leveling Tool"

The "Laser Level - Leveling Tool" application was developed by EXA Tools, which has developed several other similar applications. The program includes three instruments - laser level, bubble level and inclinometer. The application is fully Russified.

For more accurate measurements, the application may need to be calibrated. To do this, you need to find a perfectly horizontal surface and calibrate the application data against it. However, it is not easy to figure out how to do this - the program does not contain relevant tips, which users also complain about in the comments on the Play Market.

When tested, the application showed pretty good results. Of course, building a house using only this level is not worth it, but in some everyday matters, for example, when installing a cauldron on a homemade hearth in the forest or a washing machine in an apartment, a smartphone can help a lot. In addition, the capabilities of the application clearly depend on the operation of the smartphone's sensors - on the Play Market, reviews about the program are mostly diametrically opposite.

The paid version of the program differs only in the absence of advertising; you can switch to it from the free version right in the application.

⇡ "Building level"

"Building level" - the development of the already mentioned NixGame. The application contains two tools - a level and a ruler. However, the ruler here is just additional functionality, the corresponding application of the same developer has a b O the greatest opportunities. The program is fully Russified (and supports 14 more languages).

As in the previous application, the level can be calibrated by placing the smartphone on a perfectly horizontal surface. However, if the back cover is a little convex, then accurate calibration may not work, since the device will not be stable on the surface (this remark is true for all other programs of this type).

The level can be used in two ways. The first one involves aligning the object by placing the smartphone with the back cover on its surface. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the bubble in the center of the screen fits exactly into the bounding circle. The second method involves aligning to one of the sides of the smartphone. In this case, you need to try so that the lines showing the angle of deviation from the calibrated horizontal line coincide with it.

When the ideal horizontal is reached, the application can inform about this with a sound signal.

⇡ "Bubble Level"

Simple application, no additional features. On the main screen, there are three bubble level icons that allow you to align the surface on the side of the smartphone, on the bottom or on the back surface (in several planes at once).

In addition to the level, the program has only one option - its calibration. Moreover, the developer claims that it will only be needed in cases where the smartphone manufacturer has not properly calibrated the device. This remark seems to be true for other applications, only for some reason the developers do not declare it. At least when testing all applications of this type without calibration, no difference in measurement accuracy was found. The paid version differs from the free one only in the absence of ads.

⇡ "Level"

In terms of functionality, the "Level" application is similar to the "Bubble Level", with the slight difference that it is automatically able to determine on which side of the smartphone the surface is aligned (side, top, bottom or back cover) and show the corresponding level on the screen. The desired type of level can be fixed so that the interface does not change when the smartphone moves.

The program is able to inform about reaching the horizontal with a sound signal. The level can be calibrated if necessary.

The paid version differs from the free one in the absence of ads.

Even a simple smartphone can be a good substitute for tools such as a ruler or a level, showing fairly accurate measurements. To fully use your smartphone as a tape measure, it is best to have a device with Android 7.0 or higher, but the accuracy will still not be up to a centimeter. As metal detectors, smartphones do not seem to be very good, but perhaps the reason is precisely the weak magnetic sensor on the device under test.