Color in Web Pages
By Jim Hobbs, Online Services Coordinator, Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans
Introduction
Many colors can be specified in Web pages. The entire background of a page, the color of text, of unvisited links, of active links (as they are being clicked on), and of visited links. If you're going to use the same formatting in many pages, it's easier to use CSS. CSS directions to browsers can be used on any number of pages. And changing the direction in the CSS file automatically changes it on all pages. See the Margins handout for more information.
Use the following codes when defining the background color and text and link colors in HTML 3.0 documents. These are the 216 colors which Netscape Navigator can use without dithering. This means that these colors load quickly. Any other colors require mixing two of these colors which takes longer to load. The faster a page loads, the less likely a viewer is to hit Stop and go elsewhere. This list is in alphabetical by color name in three columns.
Here's an example: <body bgcolor="#000015" text="#000020" link="#000050" vlink="#000050" alink="#000050">
And here's an outline of the scheme:
- <body bgcolor="#code"> for background color
- <body text="#code"> for color of text (all non-hyperlinked items)
- <body link="#code"> for color of unvisited links
- <body vlink="#code"> for color of visited links
- <body alink="#code"> for color of active links (while being selected)
Change text color by starting the text with <font color="#code"> and ending it with </font>.
Color can also be used with tables.
- <table bgcolor="#code"> for background color for every cell in the table
- <tr bgcolor="#code"> for background color for every cell in a row
- <td bgcolor="#code"> for background color for one cell
For more information, visit the pages recommended by Yahoo!:
- Arts > Design Arts > Graphic Design > Web Page Design and Layout
- Arts > Design Arts > Graphic Design > Web Page Design and Layout > Color Information
Color resources
- Color Scheme Generator
- HYPE's Color Specifier for Netscape v.3 another version of the color table. It's on a black background with colors, their names, and RGB and hex values. Colors are grouped more by family than the first.
