Using color
There are several HTML elements with attributes to specify a color. There are two
ways to do this :
- Specify a color using a hexadecimal value.
- Specify the color using the syntax
color="#RRGGBB" where RRGGBB is a
hexadecimal value for the amount of red (RR), green
(GG) and blue (BB) in the desired color.
The range for the specified value for RR, GG
and BB is 00 thru FF where 00 means no color and FF the
maximum amount. This range corresponds with the decimal range 0 - 255.
So, the color FF0000 means bright red and 808080 is a medium gray.
Specify a color using a color name.
- To simplify the use of colors, colornames were defined. This makes it
easier to use colors, because you don't have to know the
RRGGBB values, just the names. For example
color="black". Downside is that there's not a name
for every possible color.
So, depending on which colors you want to use, you have to choose between
using colornames and hexadecimal values. If you only use to the colors which
have colornames for them defined, you could stick to the colornames. If you
need full control over the colors you have to use the hexadecimal method.
If the graphics mode of a users computer supports 256 colors then not every
color that can be specified will be shown exactly as defined in the page.
The colors used in the page, not only for text but also in images, will be
dithered by the browser to a fixed palette of 216 colors. This means that
the browser replaces the colors that are not in the fixed palette by the
closest matching color in this palette.
If you want to avoid this dithering you should use only colors that are in
the Netscape palette.
 |
<TABLE border width="25%">
<TR><TD bgcolor="#700000" align="center"><FONT color="#FF9F00">The upper cell</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD bgcolor="#007000" align="center"><FONT color="#00FF9F">The lower cell</FONT></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
|
| |
 |
| The upper cell |
| The lower cell |
|
| |
|
<TABLE border width="25%">
<TR><TD bgcolor="maroon" align="center"><FONT color="red" >The upper cell</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD bgcolor="green" align="center"><FONT color="lime">The lower cell</FONT></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
|
| |
|
| The upper cell |
| The lower cell |
|
16 original colors
|
Color name |
#RRGGBB |
Example |
|
| black | #000000 | |
| navy | #000080 | |
| blue | #0000FF | |
| green | #008000 | |
| teal | #008080 | |
| lime | #00FF00 | |
| aqua | #00FFFF | |
| maroon | #800000 | |
| purple | #800080 | |
| olive | #808000 | |
| gray | #808080 | |
| silver | #C0C0C0 | |
| red | #FF0000 | |
| fuchsia | #FF00FF | |
| yellow | #FFFF00 | |
| white | #FFFFFF | |
Later these names
were extended to
140 colors
|
Color name |
#RRGGBB |
Example |
|
| aliceblue | #9FCF00 | |
| antiquewhite | #FAEBD7 | |
| aqua | #00FFFF | |
| aquamarine | #7FFFD4 | |
| azure | #F0FFFF | |
| beige | #F5F5DC | |
| bisque | #FFE4C4 | |
| black | #000000 | |
| blanchedalmond | #FFEBCD | |
| blue | #0000FF | |
| blueviolet | #8A2BE2 | |
| brown | #A52A2A | |
| burlywood | #DEB887 | |
| cadetblue | #5F9EA0 | |
| chartreuse | #7FFF00 | |
| chocolate | #D2691E | |
| coral | #FF7F50 | |
| cornflowerblue | #6495ED | |
| cornsilk | #FFF8DC | |
| crimson | #DC143C | |
| cyan | #00FFFF | |
| darkblue | #00008B | |
| darkcyan | #008B8B | |
| darkgoldenrod | #B8860B | |
| darkgray | #A9A9A9 | |
| darkgreen | #006400 | |
| darkkhaki | #BDB76B | |
| darkmagenta | #8B008B | |
| darkolivegreen | #556B2F | |
| darkorange | #FF8C00 | |
| darkorchid | #9932CC | |
| darkred | #8B0000 | |
| darksalmon | #E9967A | |
| darkseagreen | #8FBC8F | |
| darkslateblue | #483D8B | |
| darkslategray | #2F4F4F | |
| darkturquoise | #00CED1 | |
| darkviolet | #9400D3 | |
| deeppink | #FF1493 | |
| deepskyblue | #00BFFF | |
| dimgray | #696969 | |
| dodgerblue | #1E90FF | |
| firebrick | #B22222 | |
| floralwhite | #FFFAF0 | |
| forestgreen | #228B22 | |
| fuchsia | #FF00FF | |
| gainsboro | #DCDCDC | |
| ghostwhite | #F8F8FF | |
| gold | #FFD700 | |
| goldenrod | #DAA520 | |
| gray | #808080 | |
| green | #008000 | |
| greenyellow | #ADFF2F | |
| honeydew | #F0FFF0 | |
| hotpink | #FF69B4 | |
| indianred | #CD5C5C | |
| indigo | #4B0082 | |
| ivory | #FFFFF0 | |
| khaki | #F0E68C | |
| lavender | #E6E6FA | |
| lavenderblush | #FFF0F5 | |
| lawngreen | #7CFC00 | |
| lemonchiffon | #FFFACD | |
| lightblue | #ADD8E6 | |
| lightcoral | #F08080 | |
| lightcyan | #E0FFFF | |
| lightgoldenrodyellow | #FAFAD2 | |
| lightgreen | #90EE90 | |
| lightgrey | #D3D3D3 | |
| lightpink | #FFB6C1 | |
| lightsalmon | #FFA07A | |
| lightseagreen | #20B2AA | |
| lightskyblue | #87CEFA | |
| lightslategray | #778899 | |
| lightsteelblue | #B0C4DE | |
| lightyellow | #FFFFE0 | |
| lime | #00FF00 | |
| limegreen | #32CD32 | |
| linen | #FAF0E6 | |
| magenta | #FF00FF | |
| maroon | #800000 | |
| mediumaquamarine | #66CDAA | |
| mediumblue | #0000CD | |
| mediumorchid | #BA55D3 | |
| mediumpurple | #9370DB | |
| mediumseagreen | #3CB371 | |
| mediumslateblue | #7B68EE | |
| mediumspringgreen | #0FA9A | |
| mediumturquoise | #48D1CC | |
| mediumvioletred | #C71585 | |
| midnightblue | #191970 | |
| mintcream | #F5FFFA | |
| mistyrose | #FFE4E1 | |
| moccasin | #FFE4B5 | |
| navajowhite | #FFDEAD | |
| navy | #000080 | |
| oldlace | #FDF5E6 | |
| olive | #808000 | |
| olivedrab | #6B8E23 | |
| orange | #FFA500 | |
| orangered | #FF4500 | |
| orchid | #DA70D6 | |
| palegoldenrod | #EEE8AA | |
| palegreen | #98FB98 | |
| paleturquoise | #AFEEEE | |
| palevioletred | #DB7093 | |
| papayawhip | #FFEFD5 | |
| peachpuff | #FFDAB9 | |
| peru | #CD853F | |
| pink | #FFC0CB | |
| plum | #DDA0DD | |
| powderblue | #B0E0E6 | |
| purple | #800080 | |
| red | #FF0000 | |
| rosybrown | #BC8F8F | |
| royalblue | #4169E1 | |
| saddlebrown | #8B4513 | |
| salmon | #FA8072 | |
| sandybrown | #F4A460 | |
| seagreen | #2E8B57 | |
| seashell | #FFF5EE | |
| sienna | #A0522D | |
| silver | #C0C0C0 | |
| skyblue | #87CEEB | |
| slateblue | #6A5ACD | |
| slategray | #708090 | |
| snow | #FFFAFA | |
| springgreen | #00FF7F | |
| steelblue | #4682B4 | |
| tan | #D2B48C | |
| teal | #008080 | |
| thistle | #D8BFD8 | |
| tomato | #FF6347 | |
| turquoise | #40E0D0 | |
| violet | #EE82EE | |
| wheat | #F5DEB3 | |
| white | #FFFFFF | |
| whitesmoke | #F5F5F5 | |
| yellow | #FFFF00 | |
| yellowgreen | #9ACD32 | |
Copyright © 1996 - 1998 Rob Schlüter,
schluter@knoware.nl
(last updated 1998/06/10)
