HTML Hex Colors

HTML Hex Colors

Colors are displayed combining red, green, and blue light. The lowest value that can be given to one of the light sources is 0 (hex 00). The highest value is 255 (hex ff). Hex values are written as 3 double digit numbers, starting with a # sign.

The combination of red, green and blue values from 0 to 255 gives a total of more than 16 million different colors (256 x 256 x 256). Most modern monitors are capable of displaying at least 16384 different colors.

Because of the wide disparity in color calibration among computer monitors, hexadecimals are the best choice for compatible web development because of their consistency between browsers since they will stay true in hue from browser to browser.

Shades of Gray

Gray colors are displayed using an equal amount of power to all of the light sources.

Web Standard Color Names

Although the W3C has listed 16 valid color names for HTML: aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow, you should always use their hexadecimal value.

Standard Web Safe Color Chart

Some years ago, when computers supported max 256 different colors, “Web Safe Colors” was suggested as a Web standard. This is not important now, since most computers can display millions of different colors.