Talk:Web colors

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Three reasons for spelling it "color" in the article:

  1. that's the way it's spelled in the article title
  2. that's the way it's spelled in HTML
  3. that's the way it's spelled in CSS

—Paul A 09:02, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I'll grant you #1. But HTML attribute and CSS names are not to dictate spelling, that some of them resemble words is more an artifact of the fact they were created by (US English speaking) persons than an argument for or against any form of spelling. Personally I find color a detestable spelling corruption, but no need to get in an edit fight over this. If the article hadn't existed yet I'd have put it at 'Web colours'. —Jor 17:54, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The people who created it were not necessarily US English speaking. Indeed of the four editors of CSS2 their native languages were Norwegian, Dutch, UK English and US English. W3C specifications are however written in US-English as a matter of policy.

And #2 is just plain wrong. Tannin
In what way is it wrong? --Paul A 04:06, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Has anyone noticed yet that aqua and cyan are listed as identical? (#00FFFF) Is that deliberate? Kim Bruning 08:50, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Yes, "aqua" and "cyan" both refer to #00FFFF. --Paul A 04:08, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] List of colors

The list of colors needs some values filled in by persons who know how to find out the RGB, CMYK and HSV values for various colors. Tuf-Kat 01:20, Oct 4, 2004 (UTC)

The RGB values are already given. CMYK depends on which set of inks, what sort of paper, etc. HSV is marginally useful as a visual selection mechanism but the actual numerical values are not especially useful.

[edit] Table

At Dutch wikipedia we worked hard on the color table. Maybe you like it too. The first column should be removed. Ellywa 05:04, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

Dutch name
 HTML
name		 R G B
Hex code		 Color
example
Red colors
indianen rood Indianred CD 5C 5C  
licht koraal Lightcoral F0 80 80  
zalm Salmon FA 80 72  
donker zalm Darksalmon E9 96 7A  
oranjerood Orangered FF 45 00  
rood Red FF 00 00  
vermiljoen Crimson DC 14 3C  
baksteen Firebrick B2 22 22  
donker rood Darkred 8B 00 00  
Pink colors
roze Pink FF C0 CB  
licht roze Lightpink FF B6 C1  
  Palevioletred DB 70 93  
acaciaroze Hotpink FF 69 B4  
dieproze Deeppink FF 14 93  
middenvioletrood Mediumvioletred C7 15 85  
Yellos colors
licht geel Lightyellow FF FF E0  
  Lemonchiffon FF FA CD  
  Lightgoldenrodyellow FA FA D2  
  Papayawhip FF EF D5  
  Moccasin FF E4 B5  
  Peachpuff FF DA B9  
  Palegoldenrod EE E8 AA  
kaki Khaki F0 E6 8C  
geel Yellow FF FF 00  
goud Gold FF D7 00  
donker kaki Darkkhaki BD B7 6B  
Bleu colors
licht cyaan Lightcyan E0 FF FF  
  Paleturquoise AF EE EE  
cyaan Aqua 00 FF FF  
aquamarijn Aquamarine 7F FF D4  
turquoise Turquoise 40 E0 D0  
  Mediumturquoise 48 D1 CC  
donker turquoise Darkturquoise 00 CE D1  
  Powderblue B0 E0 E6  
staalblauw Lightsteelblue B0 C4 DE  
licht blauw Lightblue AD D8 E6  
hemelsblauw Skyblue 87 CE EB  
licht hemelsblauw Lightskyblue 87 CE FA  
hemelsblauw Deepskyblue 00 BF FF  
korenbloemblauw Cornflowerblue 64 95 ED  
donkerstaalblauw Steelblue 46 82 B4  
  Cadetblue 5F 9E A0  
  Mediumslateblue 7B 68 EE  
  Dodgerblue 1E 90 FF  
koninklijk blauw Royalblue 41 69 E1  
blauw Blue 00 00 FF  
middenblauw Mediumblue 00 00 CD  
donker blauw Darkblue 00 00 8B  
marine Navy 00 00 80  
nachtblauw Midnightblue 19 19 70  
Orange colors
licht zalm Lightsalmon FF A0 7A  
oranje Orange FF A5 00  
donker oranje Darkorange FF 8C 00  
koraal Coral FF 7F 50  
tomaat Tomato FF 63 47  
oranjerood Orangered FF 45 00  
Green colors
groengeel Greenyellow AD FF 2F  
groen Chartreuse 7F FF 00  
grasgroen Lawngreen 7C FC 00  
  Lime 00 FF 00  
bleekgroen Palegreen 98 FB 98  
licht groen Lightgreen 90 EE 90  
middenlentegroen Mediumspringgreen 00 FA 9A  
lentegroen Springgreen 00 FF 7F  
  Yellowgreen 9A CD 32  
  Limegreen 32 CD 32  
  Mediumseagreen 3C B3 71  
zeegroen Seagreen 2E 8B 57  
bosgroen Forestgreen 22 8B 22  
donker groen Green 00 80 00  
  Olivedrab 6B 8E 23  
olijfgroen Olive 80 80 00  
donkerolijfgroen Darkolivegreen 55 6B 2F  
donkergroen Darkgreen 00 64 00  
aquamarijn Aquamarine 7F FF D4  
  Mediumaquamarine 66 CD AA  
donker zeegroen Darkseagreen 8F BC 8F  
licht zeegroen Lightseagreen 20 B2 AA  
donker cyaan Darkcyan 00 8B 8B  
  Teal 00 80 80  
Purple colors
lavendel Lavender E6 E6 FA  
distel Thistle D8 BF D8  
pruim Plum DD A0 DD  
violet Violet EE 82 EE  
fuchsia Fuchsia FF 00 FF  
magenta magenta FF 00 FF  
orchidee Orchid DA 70 D6  
  Mediumorchid BA 55 D3  
  Mediumpurple 93 70 DB  
  Slateblue 6A 5A CD  
  Blueviolet 8A 2B E2  
donker violet Darkviolet 94 00 D3  
  Darkorchid 99 32 CC  
  Darkmagenta 8B 00 8B  
purper Purple 80 00 80  
  Darkslateblue 48 3D 8B  
  Indigo 4B 00 82  
Brown colors
  Cornsilk FF F8 DC  
  Blanchedalmond FF EB CD  
  Bisque FF E4 C4  
  Navajowhite FF DE AD  
  Wheat F5 DE B3  
  Burlywood DE B8 87  
  Tan D2 B4 8C  
  Rosybrown BC 8F 8F  
  Sandybrown F4 A4 60  
  Goldenrod DA A5 20  
  Darkgoldenrod B8 86 0B  
  Peru CD 85 3F  
chocoladebruin Chocolate D2 69 1E  
  Saddlebrown 8B 45 13  
roodbruin Sienna A0 52 2D  
bruin Brown A5 2A 2A  
kastanjebruin Maroon 80 00 00  
White colors
wit White FF FF FF  
sneeuwwit Snow FF FA FA  
  Honeydew F0 FF F0  
  Mintcream F5 FF FA  
  Azure F0 FF FF  
  Aliceblue F0 F8 FF  
  Ghostwhite F8 F8 FF  
rookwit Whitesmoke F5 F5 F5  
schelp Seashell FF F5 EE  
beige Beige F5 F5 DC  
kant Oldlace FD F5 E6  
  Floralwhite FF FA F0  
  Ivory FF FF F0  
  Antiquewhite FA EB D7  
linnen Linen FA F0 E6  
  Lavenderblush FF F0 F5  
  Mistyrose FF E4 E1  
Grey colors
  Gainsboro DC DC DC  
licht grijs Lightgrey D3 D3 D3  
zilver Silver C0 C0 C0  
donker grijs Darkgray A9 A9 A9  
grijs Gray 80 80 80  
  Dimgray 69 69 69  
  Lightslategray 77 88 99  
  Slategray 70 80 90  
  Darkslategray 2F 4F 4F  
zwart Black 00 00 00  


I don't see any actual color samples. Maybe where all the white space is on the right side, include a sample of the color? I recommend 256-color GIF images to ensure that the color is seen on all browsers. I see color bands only on my PocketPC browser.
  • The current article shows color samples directly with web colors (the hex digits are in colored boxes in at least some browsers). I think that is safer than using a GIF which may be subject to a different color management regime. Notinasnaid 12:39, 15 January 2006 (UTC)


  • I have just implemented this table

007bond 00:00, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

  • After a false start, I have cross checked (with software, not by eye) against the names in the CSS specification. There were some corrections, which someone may wish to carry back to the original: Deleted duplicate Aquamarine, OrangeRed. Added missing Cyan, LightSalmon. I also restored the original case as used by the specification. Note that I have only checked the names for an exact match, not the color values at this stage. I wonder what to do about X11 Color Names (which is the same list except it is missing LightSalmon; only that isn't really the list of colors used by X11, it's the web subset). Notinasnaid 18:05, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
Thank you ILovEPlankton 18:54, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

I really like this table sorted by color groups. Thanks for adding it! :-) I am curious about something. Some of the "gradients" ("lightness" to darkness" ?) seem to be a bit discordant to me. Do these groups follow an established sequence? Would it be possible to re-sort some of them in a "smoother" intensity gradient? I could "eyeball" it, but that would be rather subjective. Thanks for your thoughts. Rfrisbietalk 20:06, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

If it comes to preferences, I'd like to see it in alphabetical order. By grouping it in this way aren't we getting into original research? Notinasnaid 07:45, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Editorial decisions about presentation style hardly seems like original research to me. I'm sure there are all sorts of chromatic progressions that are well established in the field of color analysis. An alphabetical ordering seems to be about as arbitrary as it gets. Anyway it was just a thought. If it's that big a deal, I'll just reorder them for myself somewhere else. Rfrisbietalk 10:52, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How many colors?

Am I correct in believing there are exactly 16,777,216 different colors available on the web? If so, maybe we'd like to mention this arcane fact in the article. --Angr/tɔk tə mi 30 June 2005 15:27 (UTC)

No, its incorrect. Its the number of different values in a system that uses 8 bits per color component. Of those, some wil appear indistinguishable and others will show severe banding. The Web allows arbitrary precision for color values, using the rgb(R%, G%, B%) syntax. Some devices have only 5 bits per component, and some have 10 or more. So, 16,777,216 is not a fundamental attribute of colors on the Web. --Nantonos 20:34, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes. I added it. --Heron 30 June 2005 21:30 (UTC)
On a 24-bit (8 bits per component) display system, yes. Depending on how the monitor is set up, not all of those may be distinguishable; and some may show objectionable banding. There have been 10 bits per component (30 bit) display systems available for some time now. On mobile devices, 5 bits per component (15 bit) or 5-6-5 (16 bit) is common. Whether such systems are used to display "the Web" or to display some other content does not affect the number of colors available. --Nantonos 01:00, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
I know I may be wrong, but notice the article says "It should be mentioned that all color values from #000000 - #FFFFFF (16,777,215 colors) are valid." Wouldn't that be incorrect, as 255³ = 16,581,375? Again, I know that I'm the one who's most likely wrong, and that someone would have noticed by now if the stated number of colors was incorrect, but I just wanted to ask. -- The M.P. 22:01, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
Wait, nevermind. That's not my question anymore. Now my question is, how could you even convert a color to decimal if it had more than 255 Red, Green, or Blue? 00 - FF is only 255 hex triplets. -- The M.P. 22:12, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
Oh man. I am so sorry for wasting your time if you're reading this... I was stupid. I completely forgot that 00 - FF is actually 256 hex triplets. ugh... sorry. -- The M.P. 22:19, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Duplicate Entry: Orangered

The color 'Orangered' is in the list twice. Should it be removed, or is it duplicated because it is part of both the orange section and the red section? --Topaz 06:37, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Decimal RGB definition

In CSS, colours can also be defined as rgb(decimal,decimal,decimal).

[edit] Double Entry

Is it just me or are magenta and fuchsia supposed to have the same code?? The Fuchsia (color) article states that the code is #F400A1 (but it does mention magenta's hex triplet as well). Not sure what to do, so I'll leave it up to those who'd know better. --Dupz

It's correct as it is: both are defined as #FF00FF for the purpose of this article. The #FA00A1 in the colour box on the Fuchsia (color) page is just the code for the arbitrary shade of fuschia used in that box. --Zundark 16:31, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 2l6 vs 256

How many web safe colors are out there? 216 or 256? I'm trying to implement them on a jsp program but i'm not sure of what the exact number is. I am still not clear , ever after reading the article. It says that it's 216 because up to 20 colors are used by the operating system. Xhamlliku

There are 216 colors. In hexadecimal, any combination of 00,33,66,99,CC,FF produce a web safe color. I also notice the article states Lynda Weinman was the first to identify this palette. However, if you follow the link to her page, it says:

'Lynda Weinman is a leading author on web design and web graphics. She first publicized the "web-safe" color palette first discovered by Bruce Heavin.' Victor Engel 01:26, 27 December 2006 (UTC) (author of The Browser Safe Palette, http://the-light.com/netcol.html)

[edit] X11 Color Names

I believe we should add a link to X11 color names and develop that page instead of listing the colors here. X11 color names have more applications then web design and it doesn't make sense to duplicate the list, nor to REDIRECT "x11 color names" to this page. What do you think? Matveims 02:36, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

I changed the table of the X11 colors so that it was sorted in Alphabetical order. I also put it into 3 columns in stead of 2 because there is room for it, and to shorten the page. Does anyone know why this was edit was reverted? 007bond 01:06, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Because it is easier for users to find a certian color when it is color coded, and much harder when it is alphabetical, and also your three colomns don't fit on a 800x600 moniter. ILovEPlankton 01:09, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

That is fair enough. Another reccomendation: there is a table above that was completed in the dutch wikipedia that someone kindly copied across for us to use. Are we going to make use of this? 007bond 01:27, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

If you would like to implement it I would not mind. ILovEPlankton 01:34, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
I have just implemented the above table. I'm surprised no did it before me, it's been up for ages.
I think people have just been lazy to remove the dutch names.
Upon looking at the actual X11 color names page, I found a similar table that had the RGB values included.
Having already took the time to delete dutch names, I'm not going to go through and add them in, but if someone else could that would be great

007bond 00:02, 25 April 2006 (UTC)


I recently found the color code #DDCDFF in a template here in Wikipedia, but it is not listed in this article, or any other article I've found that lists X11 color names. By looking at it, it looks like a shade of purple, but I don't know the name. Could someone let me know in my talk page? Same goes for #FDFDFD, which looks like an off-white. Thanks. --JFred 03:58, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

There are 16 million color codes available, and only a few hundred names, so there is no particular reason to assume that these colors do have names at all. Notinasnaid 06:28, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Converting RGB to hexadecimal

The article mentions the Windows calculator converts RGB colors to hex. Would anyone object to mentioning that Apple computers since early 2004 were bundled with Art Directors Toolkit that performs RGB to Hexadecimal conversion?

http://www.code-line.com/software/applebundle4/ Dedwarmo 04:32, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

I remedied this problem in what I hope is a cleaner way. Hardwick 23:27, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Hex triplet is a six-digit, three-byte hexadecimal number, giving us 16 million colors.

It's a simple equation for a computer to compute this number and display it. If the computer is not sufficiently capable of displaying this many colors, the computer compensates and dithers the color or replaces the color.

Instead, use Web Safe colors as a guideline. For instance, say you are making a website with blue, photo-realistic toolbars. Compare the "blue" of your design to the "blues" available in the X11 color names list.

Then, select the closest matching blue and colorize your website to match. This will allow you to have a website with 16 million colors, while taking other computer's display capabilities into consideration.

[edit] Woah.

Hey, you guys rock. This is a pretty amazing page. Definitely must have been a piece of work to do. Keep up the good work. 69.160.0.227 00:53, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Undid change to make X11 colors "main article"

I undid a change which set up X11 colors as the main article. This is because that describes, well, the colors in X11, while this article describes the colors that the HTML/CSS standards refer to. These are not the same list, as reference 3 indicates. I have also updated the X11 colors article to reflect this ambiguity, since people may find it first and try to use it as a reference for web design. Notinasnaid 09:51, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Something is amiss with this section. If X11 color names, the article, is about a different topic than Web colors#X11 color names, the section, then the section is mislabeled. I followed accepted wikistyle to note the reference to the main article with a well-accepted template. Please change the name of this section to something that is more descriptive. Also, please move the external link out of the section. It is poor style as well. It should be cited as a reference. Rfrisbietalk 11:30, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
It is about a very closely related topic. But (a) it overlaps in a complex way, so that can't really be said to be the main article; this is equally the main article for that. (b) that article did not (and still does not) contain an equivalent alphabetical list. I hope my recent edits to X11 color names have made the differences clearer. Notinasnaid 12:03, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
I'll admit that I still need to let the nuances soak in, but your edits help. Thanks! :-) However, because the topics are so similar yet different, I still recommend the section title be changed slightly to reflect the distinction with the article (a "section" is not an "article"), such as "X11 colors in the CSS3 specification." Also, an external link does not belong in a section other than in something like References or External links. It still needs to be moved. Rfrisbietalk 14:08, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removing external links

I have removed a few external links and some have been reverted, so here is a proposal instead. I propose to remove the external link to List of web colors - "a more complete list". The reason for this is it just seems to be a collection of names of colors with RGB values; why is this one notable? The names used don't match HTML standards, and most don't seem to work in practice either. The page does not make this clear. Hence I don't think it meets Wikipedia's requirements for external links. Notinasnaid 13:00, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

By the way, the edit summary asked "why are you removing references". I am not; references are a serious matter, and should only be removed if the relevant part of the article no longer exists, making the reference obsolete, or if a better reference is found. What I am removing is simply an external link. Notinasnaid 13:10, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
You've removed all the links except for "CSS2.1 Color Specification" which is more of a css specification and offers little more than is found here on web colors. I think a color chart with rgb codes would be a much better resource for web developers and the like. css is not the web colors standard. Im putting back two color charts.
I disagree. CSS and HTML are the only web color standards. But please continue the debate. Notinasnaid 09:55, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
You said "This is a complete list of the colors in a published specification. Please do not add new ones not in the specification." That is A specification. Not THE specification. Web colors includes all RGB colors from #000000 - #FFFFFF not just those in the cascading style sheet specification, or the XML specification, or any specification in limited use.
Do you propose that this article list all of the 24 million possible colors, or just people's favourites? What is the benefit of including other colors, and what would your source be? In any case, the new color I removed was added to a section which specifically said, and was sourced, as the CSS color list: as such the removal was absolutely necessary, because the change meant Wikipedia was claiming the added color was part of the CSS list, and it wasn't. Notinasnaid 08:24, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
No im not saying the article should list all 24m(Its 16.7m btw). Just maybe links to pages with more than the ~250 on the page, and the 17 in the css spec. This page only mentions "named" and "web safe" colors, which here in 2006 are of debatable value.
What is the benefit of including other colors, and what would your source be?
IMO Web Site designers finding this page would get just as much if not more use from charts with a few thousand web colors than a css spec with 17 colors. If this article is about the specifications of including colors in web pages it is just as much about the colors themselves. Im not saying remove the css spec, I think they both have merit. And so does the html spec. You could even argue Flash and the like are web color specs.
the new color I removed was added to a section which specifically said, and was sourced, as the CSS color list: as such the removal was absolutely necessary, because the change meant Wikipedia was claiming the added color was part of the CSS list, and it wasn't.
I thought you were referring to the external links. my mistake
Removed links which aren't part of the specification.
The specification for web colors are all those from #000000-FFFFFF not just those with names. Youve already said your aware of this. "Do you propose that this article list all of the 24 million possible colors...." This article is about web colors, not just the web color specifications.

[edit] Colors Named Correctly

Am I color blind? Because, the specific colors below just don't look right to me. Please refer to article and talk page.

Chocolate :: It seriously looks 'orange-ish' to me.

Brown :: Umm... I see more of a pinkish red and not Brown.

I came here looking for some color pattern's b/c I was trying to find Orange-Red which I did and was going over the other colors. Is it seriously just me or are the colors wrong?

lol! Hopefully someone get's back to me here soon :) Thanks! sid007 05:01, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Chocolate looks like a rather warm caramel. Brown is a rather mahogany kind of color. It's always possible someone could have tampered with the article, but I think it is right. You can always follow the reference to http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-css3-color-20010305#x11-color, which is the official specification of these colors; they look the same there. Always bear in mind, too, that colors won't look the same on all computers. When designing web pages you can't be sure what other people will see. Notinasnaid 08:24, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A suggsetion for the color list

Pink-peach. (#FF6666) It is a color that I use often. Is that able to be added? Plesae respond here or here, thank you.

[edit] Light Salmon in X11

The X11 categories are nice -- Light Salmon belongs to 2 categories (Red and Orange). Is that a mistake or purposeful for a non-exclusive categorization?

Regards,

monte

{x:

MonteShaffer 20:04, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 256 Color chart

I don't know if this would be helpful or not but I developed a 256 color chart for my own use that shows the combined intensity of each color from 0 to 15 - with 15 being white(FF,FF,FF) and 14 being one value away in each of the main colors i.e. (CC,FF,FF); (FF,CC,FF); and (FF,FF,CC). It is available here - User:Trödel/Color chart (8-bit) ----Trödel 17:51, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I reckon your chart – which looks like great work – ought to be available to users via at least a link from this page, if not on the page itself (I don't know whether or not it would qualify as a "Web colors" chart...?). If it isn't included on the page, please create Chart of 8-bit colors or the like; in the meantime, the current version is now linked in my reference area. Thanks for your work!  David Kernow (talk) 18:24, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

the link to 'list of colors' was labeled as 'list of articles about color'... very different things. 12/16/06

They are indeed. And since it is a list of articles about color, I have reverted your change. Notinasnaid 11:01, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] About the 16 colors...

Shouldn't orange be one of the 16 colors? --James Maxx 10:30, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

But then it would be 17! Apparently not, see under the heading "CSS colors". Notinasnaid 11:36, 18 December 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Rainbow

Can any one make a rainbow? can they make a sig for me? the rain bow should be shades of blue. ♥Smartie960♥(Chatter Box) 22:18, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Now why would you want to do that? –Pomte 00:06, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
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