HTML Basics

Websupport Color Table
Color Chart

Some examples

Each of the following examples includes both an example tag and a working example of how to use the name and the hexidecimal code.

Changing font colors Using the color name.

This text is red. While this reverts back to the default color.
This text is red.
While this reverts back to the default color.

Using the hexidecimal color code This text is red. While this reverts back to the default color.

This text is red.
While this reverts back to the default color.

The following examples are not working examples, but will work when copied from here and placed on your page.

Changing background, link and text color on your page

<.BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#800080" ALINK="#FF0000" VLINK="#FFFF00" TEXT="#008000">

<.BODY BGCOLOR="WHITE" LINK="PURPLE" ALINK="RED" VLINK="YELLOW" TEXT="GREEN">

Top of page

Each of the color blocks in the following chart give several types of information.
In each color block the first line has the RGB code for the background color.
The second line of the color block gives the hexadecimal code for the background color.
The third line of the color block has the discrete name for the background color.
Each color block is also divided in two parts, which allows you to determine if specific browsers support the named colors:
The color of the upper section is created using the hexadecimal code.
The color of the lower section is created using the name of the color.







Top of page

NOTE:
DO NOT USE NETSCAPE'S COLOR WORDS! If you get lazy and indicate a color using a name such as BLUE, HONEYDEW, or FORESTGREEN, the odds are only Netscape viewers will enjoy your work. Some words are supported by Internet Explorer, and none are supported by NCSA Mosaic. There are of course even more browsers than those around. Why take away from your site?

Top of page
THE SAFE COLORS
When selecting colors, try to pick ones that Netscape and Internet Explorer do not dither.
Dithering is basically a process of making one color by mixing pixels of other colors, as opposed to setting the pixel to the color you want.
This is not always a good effect.
My main logo ends up dithering at 256 colors, but is bearable!
There is a minor problem for us when selecting colors.
If your reader has their video set for 256 colors, then Netscape will only display the 216 colors you see on this tall chart up and to the left.
Here is the basic concept of what are called the SAFE COLORS.

We previously mentioned that there are 256 X 256 X 256 colors (around 16 million), but if a video card is set to 256 colors, something has to give.
What gave where most of the colors! Here is how it exactly how to figure out if your color is safe.

In HEX (see below), each red, green, or blue component must start with:

00 or 33 or 66 or 99 or CC or FF So, instead of 256 levels of red, green and blue, you have only 6.
This results in 6 X 6 X 6 or 216 colors!

You can save the image on the left and use it as a palette in your favorite graphics editor.

Top of page