Web color

Web colors are colors used in designing webpages, and the ways for describing and listing those colours.

There are several ways to chose colors for parts of webpages. Colors may be listed as an RGB triplet (a set of three numbers) in hexadecimal format (a hex triplet). RGB triplet can make 16,777,216 different colors. Many common colors can also be chosen by their common English names. Often a color tool or other graphics software is used to create color values.

The first versions of Mosaic and Netscape Navigator used the X11 color names as the base for their color lists. This was because they both started as X Window System applications.

Each web color has its own definition, sRGB. This relates to the chromaticities of a single phosphor set, a given transfer curve, adaptive whitepoint, and viewing conditions. These have been chosen to be similar to many real-world monitors and viewing conditions. Even without color management, the colors created are fairly close to the given values. However, user agents can be different in the fidelity with which they show the colors. Better user agents use color management to create better color fidelity. This is important for Web-to-print applications.

Hex triplet

A hex triplet is a six-digit, three-byte number used in HTML, CSS, SVG, and other computer programs, to represent colors. The bytes represent the red, green and blue parts of the color. One byte represents a number in the range 00 to FF, or 0 to 255 in decimal notation. This represents the least (0) to the most (255) intensity of each of the color components. The hex triplet is formed by concatenating three bytes in hexadecimal notation, in the following order:

Byte 1: red value (color type red)

Byte 2: green value (color type green)

Byte 3: blue value (color type blue)

For example, consider the color where the red/green/blue values are decimal numbers: red=36, green=104, blue=160 (a greyish-blue color). The decimal numbers 36, 104 and 160 are similar to the numbers 24, 68 and A0 respectively. The hex triplet is obtained by combining the 6 hexadecimal digits together, 2468A0 in this example.

HTML web colors

Formulated in 1997, there were originally 16 colors. Orange was added later to make a total of 17. The original 16 were part of something called the "Windows VGA template", meaning that they are the colors that can be used for actions like highlighting.

Color	Hexadecimal	Color	Hexadecimal	Color	Hexadecimal	Color	Hexadecimal
aqua	#00FFFF	grey	#808080	navy	#000080	silver	#C0C0C0
black	#000000	green	#008000	olive	#808000	teal	#008080
blue	#0000FF	lime	#00FF00	purple	#800080	white	#FFFFFF
fuchsia	#FF00FF	maroon	#800000	red	#FF0000	yellow	#FFFF00

HTML color added later

Color	Hexadecimal
orange	#FFA500

X11 colors (formulated in 1987)

These are called "X11 web colors" since the invention of the World Wide Web in 1991.

HTML name Hex code R   G   B Decimal code R   G   B Red colors Indian Red CD 5C 5C 205  92  92 Light Coral F0 80 80 240 128 128 Salmon FA 80 72 250 128 114 Dark Salmon E9 96 7A 233 150 122 Light Salmon FF A0 7A 255 160 122 Crimson DC 14 3C 220  20  60 Red FF 00 00 255   0   0 Fire Brick B2 22 22 178  34  34 Dark Red 8B 00 00 139   0   0 Pink colors Pink FF C0 CB 255 192 203 Light Pink FF B6 C1 255 182 193 Hot Pink FF 69 B4 255 105 180 Deep Pink FF 14 93 255  20 147 Medium Violet Red C7 15 85 199  21 133 Pale Violet Red DB 70 93 219 112 147 Orange colors Light Salmon FF A0 7A 255 160 122 Coral FF 7F 50 255 127  80 Tomato FF 63 47 255  99  71 OrangeRed FF 45 00 255  69   0 Dark Orange FF 8C 00 255 140   0 Orange FF A5 00 255 165   0 Yellow colors Gold FF D7 00 255 215   0 Yellow FF FF 00 255 255   0 Light Yellow FF FF E0 255 255 224 Lemon Chiffon FF FA CD 255 250 205 Light Goldenrod Yellow FA FA D2 250 250 210 Papaya Whip FF EF D5 255 239 213 Moccasin FF E4 B5 255 228 181 Peach Puff FF DA B9 255 218 185 Pale Goldenrod EE E8 AA 238 232 170 Khaki F0 E6 8C 240 230 140 Dark Khaki BD B7 6B 189 183 107 Purple colors Lavender E6 E6 FA 230 230 250 Thistle D8 BF D8 216 191 216 Plum DD A0 DD 221 160 221 Violet EE 82 EE 238 130 238 Orchid DA 70 D6 218 112 214 Fuchsia FF 00 FF 255   0 255 Magenta FF 00 FF 255   0 255 Medium Orchid BA 55 D3 186  85 211 Medium Purple 93 70 DB 147 112 219 Amethyst 99 66 CC 153 102 204 Blue Violet 8A 2B E2 138  43 226 Dark Violet 94 00 D3 148   0 211 Dark Orchid 99 32 CC 153  50 204 Dark Magenta 8B 00 8B 139   0 139 Purple 80 00 80 128   0 128 Indigo 4B 00 82  75   0 130 Slate Blue 6A 5A CD 106  90 205 Dark Slate Blue 48 3D 8B  72  61 139 Medium Slate Blue 7B 68 EE 123 104 238

HTML name Hex code R   G   B Decimal code R   G   B Green colors Green Yellow AD FF 2F 173 255  47 Chartreuse 7F FF 00 127 255   0 Lawn Green 7C FC 00 124 252   0 Lime 00 FF 00   0 255   0 Lime Green 32 CD 32  50 205  50 Pale Green 98 FB 98 152 251 152 Light Green 90 EE 90 144 238 144 Medium Spring Green 00 FA 9A   0 250 154 Spring Green 00 FF 7F   0 255 127 Medium Sea Green 3C B3 71  60 179 113 Sea Green 2E 8B 57  46 139  87 Forest Green 22 8B 22  34 139  34 Green 00 80 00   0 128   0 Dark Green 00 64 00   0 100   0 Yellow Green 9A CD 32 154 205  50 Olive Drab 6B 8E 23 107 142  35 Olive 80 80 00 128 128   0 Dark Olive Green 55 6B 2F  85 107  47 Medium Aquamarine 66 CD AA 102 205 170 Dark Sea Green 8F BC 8F 143 188 143 Light Sea Green 20 B2 AA  32 178 170 Dark Cyan 00 8B 8B   0 139 139 Teal 00 80 80   0 128 128 Blue colors Aqua 00 FF FF   0 255 255 Cyan 00 FF FF   0 255 255 Light Cyan E0 FF FF 224 255 255 Pale Turquoise AF EE EE 175 238 238 Aquamarine 7F FF D4 127 255 212 Turquoise 40 E0 D0  64 224 208 Medium Turquoise 48 D1 CC  72 209 204 Dark Turquoise 00 CE D1   0 206 209 Cadet Blue 5F 9E A0  95 158 160 Steel Blue 46 82 B4  70 130 180 Light Steel Blue B0 C4 DE 176 196 222 Powder Blue B0 E0 E6 176 224 230 Light Blue AD D8 E6 173 216 230 Sky Blue 87 CE EB 135 206 235 Light Sky Blue 87 CE FA 135 206 250 Deep Sky Blue 00 BF FF   0 191 255 Dodger Blue 1E 90 FF  30 144 255 Cornflower Blue 64 95 ED 100 149 237 Medium Slate Blue 7B 68 EE 123 104 238 Royal Blue 41 69 E1  65 105 225 Blue 00 00 FF   0   0 255 Medium Blue 00 00 CD   0   0 205 Dark Blue 00 00 8B   0   0 139 Navy 00 00 80   0   0 128 Midnight Blue 19 19 70  25  25 112

HTML name Hex code R   G   B Decimal code R   G   B Brown colors Cornsilk FF F8 DC 255 248 220 Blanched Almond FF EB CD 255 235 205 Bisque FF E4 C4 255 228 196 Navajo White FF DE AD 255 222 173 Wheat F5 DE B3 245 222 179 Burly Wood DE B8 87 222 184 135 Tan D2 B4 8C 210 180 140 Rosy Brown BC 8F 8F 188 143 143 Sandy Brown F4 A4 60 244 164  96 Goldenrod DA A5 20 218 165  32 Dark Goldenrod B8 86 0B 184 134  11 Peru CD 85 3F 205 133  63 Chocolate D2 69 1E 210 105  30 Saddle Brown 8B 45 13 139  69  19 Sienna A0 52 2D 160  82  45 Brown A5 2A 2A 165  42  42 Maroon 80 00 00 128   0   0 White colors White FF FF FF 255 255 255 Snow FF FA FA 255 250 250 Honeydew F0 FF F0 240 255 240 Mint Cream F5 FF FA 245 255 250 Azure F0 FF FF 240 255 255 Alice Blue F0 F8 FF 240 248 255 Ghost White F8 F8 FF 248 248 255 White Smoke F5 F5 F5 245 245 245 Seashell FF F5 EE 255 245 238 Beige F5 F5 DC 245 245 220 Old Lace FD F5 E6 253 245 230 Floral White FF FA F0 255 250 240 Ivory FF FF F0 255 255 240 Antique White FA EB D7 250 235 215 Linen FA F0 E6 250 240 230 Lavender Blush FF F0 F5 255 240 245 Misty Rose FF E4 E1 255 228 225 Grey colors Gainsboro DC DC DC 220 220 220 Light Grey D3 D3 D3 211 211 211 Silver C0 C0 C0 192 192 192 Dark Gray A9 A9 A9 169 169 169 Gray 80 80 80 128 128 128 Dim Gray 69 69 69 105 105 105 Light Slate Gray 77 88 99 119 136 153 Slate Gray 70 80 90 112 128 144 Dark Slate Gray 2F 4F 4F  47  79  79 Black 00 00 00   0   0   0

Chart of selected web colors

This chart shows selected HTML and X11 colors as well as selected unofficial consensus web colors developed by web designers since 2002. When entering code using the unofficial colors, the hex code of the color must be specified instead of writing the name of the color.