Most useful hex editor in my universe

Simply put, this is the best hex editor for OS X that I have been able to find so far, and I have been looking on and off the AppStore for some time. Analyzing file data structures is so much easier when you can color them in! Right now I am using Synalyze It! Pro to analyze and manipulate graphics files of various formats. Since each file I work with was created at some very specific point in the evolution of its format, the differences between any two files of a single format can be quite striking and/or very very very subtle. The custom grammars work very well to keep those changes from confusing me, especially on those days when my brain sleeps in but I want to work early. It is easy to use a grammar file as a pre-existing map and a developing diagram at the same time, and if, like me, you are changing different parts of the files you are working with, you can use a grammar sheet for that one file and scribble notes all over it.

It is sort of like a byte-level visual project manager for me. I am working as an artist rather than as an engineer, and Synalyze It! Pro is the only hex editor I have actually been able to learn from simply by using it. The others--well, they show you the bytes, and you can change them, but they are not much help in deciphering structures so that you know which ones will break everything if you drop a byte and which ones will stand up to a little tinkering.

Also, the color schemes are completely customizable. Maybe I am getting old, but I can no longer work with black text on blaring white backgrounds, so I am always looking for those foreground/background preferance panes. This has them! So very happy to have found this tool.

ErikSF999 about Synalyze It! Pro