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Web Color Reference By Stephanos Piperoglou November 13, 2007 This color reference aims to help you pick colors for Web pages. The first table lists all valid color names you can use in HTML and CSS instead of numerical color values. The second table lists the proprietary color names used by Internet Explorer and their numerical equivalents, so that you can make your documents more portable. The third table lists the 216-color Websafe palette and the 22-color Reallysafe palette, for all you bitdepth nazis out there. If you have trouble printing the colors in these pages, you might have to set your browser's preferences so that it prints background colors (especially with Internet Explorer). Named Colors Proprietary Color Names The Websafe and Reallysafe Palettes Named Colors The HTML 4.x specifications defines sixteen color names that can be used instead of color values in HTML. These colors are valid values for attributes such as BGCOLOR or LINK on the BODY element. The CSS2 specification also uses these colors as color values which can be used with properties such as color, background-color or border-color. The color table is shown below: HTML 4.01 & CSS2 Colors Color Name Hex 6 Hex 3 RGB RGB% Websafe Reallysafe Sample black #000000 #000 0,0,0 0%,0%,0% Yes Yes   silver #C0C0C0 #CCC 192,192,192 75%,75%,75% No No   gray #808080 #888 128,128,128 50%,50%,50% No No   white #FFFFFF #FFF 255,255,255 100%,100%,100% Yes Yes   maroon #800000 #800 128,0,0 50%,0%,0% No No   red #FF0000 #F00 255,0,0 100%,0%,0% Yes Yes   purple #800080 #808 128,0,128 50%,0%,50% No No   fuchsia #FF00FF #F0F 255,0,255 100%,0%,100% Yes Yes   green #008000 #080 0,128,0 0%,50%,0% No No   lime #00FF00 #0F0 0,255,0 0%,100%,0% Yes Yes   olive #808000 #880 128,128,0 50%,50%,0% No No   yellow #FFFF00 #FF0 255,255,0 100%,100%,0% Yes Yes   navy #000080 #008 0,0,128 0%,0%,50% No No   blue #0000FF #00F 0,0,255 0%,0%,100% Yes Yes   teal #008080 #088 0,128,128 0%,50%,50% No No   aqua #00FFFF #0FF 0,255,255 0%,100%,100% Yes Yes   The HTML 4.01 and CSS2 color names with their corresponding numerical values. Members of the Websafe and Reallysafe palletes are marked. Proprietary Color Names Internet Explorer provides many additional color names since version 4.0. Using these names is a bad idea, since not every browser understands them, and I can't really blame any piece of software that is puzzled by "bisque." They are provided here to aid porting to numerical color notations, as well as for entertainment value. Personally, "darkgoldenrod" just cracks me up. Netscape also has a host of color names, many of them shared with IE. Since this article's original publication, many readers have written to us suggesting Netscape compatible name/value color listings. Among those suggested is this page: http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/js/client/jsref/colors.htm from Netscape's Developer Web site. The color table is shown below: Internet Explorer Named Colors Color Name Hex 6 Hex 3 RGB RGB% Websafe Reallysafe Sample aliceblue #F0F8FF #FFF 240,248,255 94%,97%,100% No No   antiquewhite #FAEBD7 #FED 250,235,215 98%,92%,84% No No   aqua #00FFFF #0FF 0,255,255 0%,100%,100% Yes Yes   aquamarine #7FFFD4 #7FD 127,255,212 49%,100%,83% No No   azure #F0FFFF #FFF 240,255,255 94%,100%,100% No No   beige #F5F5DC #FFD 245,245,220 96%,96%,86% No No   bisque #FFE4C4 #FEC 255,228,196 100%,89%,76% No No   black #000000 #000 0,0,0 0%,0%,0% Yes Yes   blanchedalmond #FFEBCD #FEC 255,235,205 100%,92%,80% No No   blue #0000FF #00F 0,0,255 0%,0%,100% Yes Yes   blueviolet #8A2BE2 #82E 138,43,226 54%,16%,88% No No   brown #A52A2A #A22 165,42,42 64%,16%,16% No No   burlywood #DEB887 #DB8 222,184,135 87%,72%,52% No No   cadetblue #5F9EA0 #59A 95,158,160 37%,61%,62% No No   chartreuse #7FFF00 #7F0 127,255,0 49%,100%,0% No No   chocolate #D2691E #D61 210,105,30 82%,41%,11% No No   coral #FF7F50 #F75 255,127,80 100%,49%,31% No No   cornflowerblue #6495ED #69E 100,149,237 39%,58%,92% No No   cornsilk #FFF8DC #FFD 255,248,220 100%,97%,86% No No   crimson #DC143C #D13 220,20,60 86%,7%,23% No No   cyan #00FFFF #0FF 0,255,255 0%,100%,100% Yes Yes   darkblue #00008B #008 0,0,139 0%,0%,54% No No   darkcyan #008B8B #088 0,139,139 0%,54%,54% No No   darkgoldenrod #B8860B #B80 184,134,11 72%,52%,4% No No   darkgray #A9A9A9 #AAA 169,169,169 66%,66%,66% No No   darkgreen #006400 #060 0,100,0 0%,39%,0% No No   darkkhaki #BDB76B #BB6 189,183,107 74%,71%,41% No No   darkmagenta #8B008B #808 139,0,139 54%,0%,54% No No   darkolivegreen #556B2F #562 85,107,47 33%,41%,18% No No   darkorange #FF8C00 #F80 255,140,0 100%,54%,0% No No   darkorchid #9932CC #93C 153,50,204 60%,19%,80% No No   darkred #8B0000 #800 139,0,0 54%,0%,0% No No   darksalmon #E9967A #E97 233,150,122 91%,58%,47% No No   darkseagreen #8FBC8B #8B8 143,188,139 56%,73%,54% No No   dodgerblue #1E90FF #19F 30,144,255 11%,56%,100% No No   forestgreen #228B22 #282 34,139,34 13%,54%,13% No No   indianred #CD5C5C #C55 205,92,92 80%,36%,36% No No   lavender #E6E6FA #EEF 230,230,250 90%,90%,98% No No   lemonchiffon #FFFACD #FFC 255,250,205 100%,98%,80% No No   lightgrey #D3D3D3 #DDD 211,211,211 82%,82%,82% No No   lightseagreen #20B2AA #2BA 32,178,170 12%,69%,66% No No   mediumslateblue #7B68EE #76E 123,104,238 48%,40%,93% No No   navy #000080 #008 0,0,128 0%,0%,50% No No   orange #FFA500 #FA0 255,165,0 100%,64%,0% No No   salmon #FA8072 #F87 250,128,114 98%,50%,44% No No   slateblue #6A5ACD #65C 106,90,205 41%,35%,80% No No   yellowgreen #9ACD32 #9C3 154,205,50 60%,80%,19% No No   Internet Explorer's proprietary color names with their corresponding numerical values. Members of the Websafe and Reallysafe palletes are marked. 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. The color table is shown below: WebSafe Palette Code Color Code Color Code Color Code Color Code Color Code Color 000000   000033   000066   000099   0000cc   0000FF   003300   003333   003366   003399   0033cc   0033ff   006600   006633   006666   006699   0066cc   0066ff   009900   009933   009966   009999   0099cc   0099ff   00cc00   00cc33   00cc66   00cc99   00cccc   00ccff   00FF00   00ff33   00FF66   00ff99   00FFCC   00FFFF   330000   330033   330066   330099   3300cc   3300ff   333300   333333   333366   333399   3333cc   3333ff   336600   336633   336666   336699   3366cc   3366ff   339900   339933   339966   339999   3399cc   3399ff   33cc00   33cc33   33cc66   33cc99   33cccc   33ccff   33ff00   33FF33   33FF66   33ff99   33FFCC   33FFFF   660000   660033   660066   660099   6600cc   6600ff   663300   663333   663366   663399   6633cc   6633ff   666600   666633   666666   666699   6666cc   6666ff   669900   669933   669966   669999   6699cc   6699ff   66cc00   66cc33   66cc66   66cc99   66cccc   66ccff   66FF00   66FF33   66ff66   66ff99   66ffcc   66FFFF   990000   990033   990066   990099   9900cc   9900ff   993300   993333   993366   993399   9933cc   9933ff   996600   996633   996666   996699   9966cc   9966ff   999900   999933   999966   999999   9999cc   9999ff   99cc00   99cc33   99cc66   99cc99   99cccc   99ccff   99ff00   99ff33   99ff66   99ff99   99ffcc   99ffff   cc0000   cc0033   cc0066   cc0099   cc00cc   cc00ff   cc3300   cc3333   cc3366   cc3399   cc33cc   cc33ff   cc6600   cc6633   cc6666   cc6699   cc66cc   cc66ff   cc9900   cc9933   cc9966   cc9999   cc99cc   cc99ff   cccc00   cccc33   cccc66   cccc99   cccccc   ccccff   ccff00   ccff33   CCFF66   ccff99   ccffcc   ccffff   FF0000   FF0033   ff0066   ff0099   ff00cc   FF00FF   ff3300   ff3333   ff3366   ff3399   ff33cc   ff33ff   ff6600   ff6633   ff6666   ff6699   ff66cc   ff66ff   ff9900   ff9933   ff9966   ff9999   ff99cc   ff99ff   ffcc00   ffcc33   ffcc66   ffcc99   ffcccc   ffccff   FFFF00   FFFF33   FFFF66   ffff99   ffffcc   FFFFFF   The Websafe palette, with hexadecimal color codes on the left and a sample of the color on the right. Color codes in red and caps are also part of the Reallysafe palette.

This article originally appeared on WebReference.com