Web Color Reference

By Stephanos Piperoglou

http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/colors/article.php/11891_3710901_4/Web-Color-Reference.htm (Back to article)

The Websafe and Reallysafe Palettes

The "Websafe" palette is a bit controversial. It is a set of 216 colors that are, supposedly, guaranteed to appear as intended on all graphical displays when used in HTML, CSS, and images embedded in Web pages. Many Web developers believe that sticking to these colors is one of the holiest commandments in the Web design scripture.

This was mostly a concern when most computers had 8-bit color displays; these days, most people run at 16-bit or 24-bit color. Although these bit-depths render the Websafe palette pointless, dithering and quantization bugs in browsers and operating systems still cause problems in 16-bit displays (16-bit display, also known as "High Color" mode or "Thousands of Colors," is generally problematic). Extensive testing has led to a new palette, called "Reallysafe," whose colors are guaranteed to appear correctly on all displays and all browsers. As the Reallysafe creators say, I hope you like green.

If you use different colors than these, you might see images and backgrounds of the same color appear at a slightly different tint, so that a "box" will be visible around them if the background extends beyond the image's edges. And remember, only use cue-tips to clean your outer ear. Right.

This article originally appeared on WebReference.com