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Web Safe ColorsHave you ever noticed how some images look dithered or totally "off-color"? And wondered why ? Have you ever wondered whether the beautiful background color you have selected for your web pages will look the same to other people on different systems ?Actually, it is possible that sometimes you could be looking at an image or a logo or a color background that appears completely different from what it appears on the page owner's display; if the color is not Web-safe color that is. The problem is due to inconsistency in the definition of color palates on the different systems and platforms. A small subset of only 216 colors have been identified to appear consistently the same on almost all color displays that support 256 colors or more. The 216 figure is a number trimmed down from 256 becuase there are about 40 colors that do not appear the same on Windows and Mac operating systems. So, if it is important to you that the colors appear consistent on all systems, you will have to restrict your selection to this small subset of non-dithering (flat) colors.
As you probably know, a color designation in HTML and javascript programming
is represented by six digit hexadecimal numbers. Each two-digit hexadecimal number represents a value for
Red,Green and Blue respectively referred to as RGB. The hex number for Red indicates "FF" for presence of Red and "00" for Green and "00" for Blue. Likewise the RGB number for Green sets Red and Blue to "00". An RGB number that has values other than "00" in its three hex numbers represents a color that has some amount of mix of the three colors. The Set of 216 colors that are deemed "Web-Safe" are limited to a combination of only six RGB values: "00","33","66","99","CC","FF". The RGB number for a Web-safe color can only consist of these two-digit hex numbers. So, whenever you want to decide on a background color, unless you are forced to choose a particular color it is safer to stick to Web-Safe colors ! Do you want to know what kinds of color shades are available to chose from and what RGB number represents these colors ? It is easy ! Just click on the button below and click on a color you like ! |