Mac users who design graphics for a living, or work on web page layouts, have multiple tools that may do some of the same things. Among the few dozen graphic design tools on my Mac are three that measure distances on the screen.
One of the more useful, and the one that works outside the box, is PixelStick because it works in any app on your Mac and anywhere on the Mac’s screen.
PixelStick is a measuring tool which measures in ways that none of the measuring tools within a graphics app can measure. For example, it measure vertical distances, horizontal distances, angles, and much more.
PixelStick can scale measurements, too, and uses the Cartesian coordinate system (similar to OS X). It sits on top of the Mac’s screen so it can overlay on any graphic or photo within any app.
Here’s a photo of the Apple Store in Shanghai, China. PixelStick accurately measures the 41 foot long glass panes.
What you won’t see in PixelStick are rulers which often obscure the image you’re trying to measure. Simply drag the endpoints to measure the distance between two objects. Position endpoints on corners to measure height and width of an object.
This is easily the most unusual, out-of-the-box, screen measuring tool on my Mac. Oh, and it doubles as an eyedropper to copy colors to the clipboard (not that Mac users don’t have enough eye dropper apps).