There is a new Mac app called SpriteRight for doing CSS sprites that is pretty darn nice. I’m a fan of both SpriteCow (beautiful interface, design your own sprite) and SpriteMe (automatic combining of sprites, gives you real CSS). I feel like SpriteRight hits the nail on the head by combining the best features of both of these tools, doing it better, and doing more.
Here’s their intro video:
It’s normally $9.99, on sale for $4.99, but if you want to get it for free, I have some codes you can redeem in the Mac App Store. I will send the first five folks who record an audio question for ShopTalk and send it in. Doesn’t even have to be a question, could just be a topic or hot tip you’d like to hear us talk about on the show.
I bought this app as soon as it came out and is pretty awesome. If you make more than $4.99/$9.99 on a website, then it’s worth buying!
I find it makes me sprite things that I wouldn’t normally be bothered with, which is a net win for everyone (well, until SPDY becomes standard!)
Definitely seems like a worthwhile app to have. If I had a microphone I’d definitely participate but either way I’m really excited for the next ShopTalk podcast!
You don’t need a microphone, you can use headphones. Plug them in the microphone jack and record.
Don’t believe me? Give it a try ;)
Phew! Almost asked a written question, and luckily saw this first. Happy to have a built in mic (Mac).
£2.99 in the UK appstore – Absolute bargain the way everyone is raving about it
Submitted an audio question. I kinda want the question to be answered more than the app :)
Hey cousins,
Know about any similar apps for those of us working on PC? :)
Tx
Just purchased the app, unbelievably useful.
sent in an audio question via the form.
really like the idea of this podcast.
i supervise a team of developers now, and some are real bad about making sprites, so if i get everyone this tool they should have no excuse.
Thanks for the tip, Chris! Just snagged me a copy and I’m poking around in it now. Looks COOL!
I’ve been making a bunch of sprites over the last two weeks, and have found Instant Sprite to be great for horizontal/vertical sprites.
What’s really neat about it is that, despite being a web-based solution, it uses the HTML5 drag-and-drop API along with a script on the client side to deliver the sprite image without sending the individual images to some server somewhere. It’s fast and produces exactly as advertised.
On Windows, I then used Paint.NET to make the sprites 8-bit, and ran them through PNGGauntlet to get the filesizes as tiny as possible. On Mac, Seashore and ImageOptim could get you about the same mileage.
Looks very nice, it encouraged me to try to findloo similar app for my Windows 7 machine.
I see some people purchased it, seems like this post somehow worked as a marketing post xD
Dang it, an app which i want to try but can’t because my Macbook decided to have a heart attack, looks fantastic none the less =)
At £2.99 it would be rude not to give this a go.
Wow! I love it. I never win stuff so i just bought it. It seriously makes life so much easier, normally I can’t even be bother to sprite things up…
Anything like this for us Windows devs?
seriously, anything similar for PC?
Just got my MacBook and this is a great addition to everything on it! Does anyone have any recommendations for apps relating to CSS/general web dev? Thanks!
If you want free, then Xcode and Dashcode are very good (come with it). There’s also Tincta which is good, and then you can look at TextWrangler, Fraise, SublimeText2 (there’s a free version), Komodo Edit.
Or if you don’t mind paying then Coda, TextMate, and BBEdit (never used it), and Taco HTML (never used it)
Just purchased the app (believe in supporting great products, so I’ll let someone else have the freebie), and it’s PERFECT for what it is. This will streamline my whole development workflow significantly. Thanks for pointing us at a great app, Chris!
Just got it from Chris, and I love it!
Amazing app! Get it everybody.
Hey Chris,
I’ve been playing around with SpriteRight and ran across an interesting (?) issue: I ran it on an existing site, pulling in the CSS file to have it identify and incorporate all of the existing images to sprite up (AWESOME feature, BTW). On this particular site, there were some larger images (a header image that’s a PNG8 non-transparent, etc). When SpriteRight assembled them all, the resulting sprite sheet was about 3x larger in file size than the combined size of the individual images.
I tried upping the compression level in SpriteRight, but that didn’t do solve it. So I’m just wondering if it’s normal for a sprite sheet to be larger than the sum of the individual sprites… and, if so, how much larger, typically?
Thanks for the pointer on this great app! It’s definitely a time saver!
– John
DVFSXBFGDaSFBZXCv ZDVXv
Thank you so much Chris, just bought the app and I will start to convert my images. This is a real time saver! Thank you once more!
This looks awesome! It’s the simple ideas that no one ever think of :(
Great App! just purchased and can’t wait to get my next project to play with it.
I like this app!!!
Thank you so much for the short preview!
No Snow Leopard version. Waaaahhhhhhhhh!
wooow…
interest… but i haven’t mac hardware :(
I have never made a sprite and have made very few websites. If I buy this app, do you think I will be able to figure it out and get some use out of it. Sorry to ask, but I really don’t want to spend money on something I will not be able to use.
Fantastic tool. Really.
For anybody experienced in putting together a sprite-sheet you will be genuinely impressed with it’s ease of use. Upon purchasing it, I immediately tested it’s ‘create sprite sheet from CSS file’, and wham … pretty much one step and done. Naturally, you will have to update your css if you have any button states … but really a piece of cake.
Jon, all the mac software mentioned is good, I would also recommend “Code Kit”:
http://incident57.com/codekit/
damo
awesome… will definitely give a go! thanks for the tip dude.
Is there any similar app for windows ?
I have never created a sprite and have created very few internet sites. If I buy this app, do you think I will be able to determine it out and get some use out of it. Sorry to ask, but I really do not want to obtain something I will not be able to use.
if you are interested in web design / development, understanding what a sprite sheet is and how it’s used are fundamental to your knowledge base – even if you never use them.
The same theory / technique is used in other kinds of development ( like gaming).
I would highly recommend researching this.
Once you undersand what sprite sheets are, I would then say:
If you are a Mac Developer and use sprite sheets, this tool is highly recommended. The kind of time savings you get in your workflow for $4.99 is really quite extraordinary. It pays for itself in it’s first use.
damian
Can’t get it in France yet :(
Lion only! Damn!
Great!
I’ve developed hundreds of websites, and always found the sprite thing extremely interesting… but never actually used it.
Thanks to this app I am already deploing this technique in my current projects. Thanks for the suggestion :)
Great time saver!
Just bought this!
It’s an excellent piece of kit and for only £2.99 it’s a complete bargin!
Fantastic! Lion only….
The demo video doesn’t really show how the sprites would be applied to a design in a real world, Dreamweaver environment, so I’m a bit confused as to how this package actually works. The images to the side of the cell phone doesn’t really show how it would function … just kind of confused me…
Hi guys,
I don’t find any link to SpriteRight APP,
The link above is not working,
Where can i buy this App?Please
Thanks