20. HTML Colors

Colors are very important to give a good look and feel to your website. You can specify colors on page level using tag or you can set colors for individual tags using bgcolor attribute.
The tag has following attributes which can be used to set different colors:

• bgcolor - sets a color for the background of the page.
• text - sets a color for the body text.
• alink - sets a color for active links or selected links.
• link - sets a color for linked text.
• vlink - sets a color for visited links - that is, for linked text that you have already clicked on.

HTML Color Coding Methods

There are following three different methods to set colors in your web page:

• Color names - You can specify color names directly like green, blue or red.
• Hex codes - A six-digit code representing the amount of red, green, and blue that makes up the color.
• Color decimal or percentage values - This value is specified using the rgb( ) property.

Now we will see these coloring schemes one by one.

HTML Colors - Color Names

You can sepecify direct a color name to set text or background color. W3C has listed 16 basic color names that will validate with an HTML validator but there are over 200 different color names supported by major browsers.
Note: Check a complete list of HTML Color Name.

W3C Standard 16 Colors

Here is the list of W3C Standard 16 Colors names and it is recommended to use them.

	Black		Gray		Silver		White
	Yellow		Lime		Aqua		Fuchsia
	Red		Green		Blue		Purple
	Maroon		Olive		Navy		Teal

Example

Here are the examples to set background of an HTML tag by color name:

Use different color names for for body and table and see the result.





This text will appear white on black background.

HTML Colors - Hex Codes

A hexadecimal is a 6 digit representation of a color. The first two digits(RR) represent a red value, the next two are a green value(GG), and the last are the blue value(BB).
A hexadecimal value can be taken from any graphics software like Adobe Photoshop, Paintshop Pro or MS Paint.
Each hexadecimal code will be preceded by a pound or hash sign #. Following is a list of few colors using hexadecimal notation.

Color	Color HEX
	#000000
	#FF0000
	#00FF00
	#0000FF
	#FFFF00
	#00FFFF
	#FF00FF
	#C0C0C0
	#FFFFFF

Example

Here are the examples to set background of an HTML tag by color code in hexadecimal:

Use different color hexa for for body and table and see the result.





This text will appear white on black background.

HTML Colors - RGB Values

This color value is specified using the rgb( ) property. This property takes three values, one each for red, green, and blue. The value can be an integer between 0 and 255 or a percentage.

Note: All the browsers does not support rgb() property of color so it is recommended not to use it.

Following is a list to show few colors using RGB values.

Color	Color RGB
	rgb(0,0,0)
	rgb(255,0,0)
	rgb(0,255,0)
	rgb(0,0,255)
	rgb(255,255,0)
	rgb(0,255,255)
	rgb(255,0,255)
	rgb(192,192,192)
	rgb(255,255,255)

Example

Here are the examples to set background of an HTML tag by color code using rgb() values:

Use different color code for for body and table and see the result.





This text will appear white on black background.

Browser Safe Colors

Here is the list of 216 colors which are supposed to be safest and computer independent colors. These colors very from hexa code 000000 to FFFFFF and they will be supported by all the computers having 256 color palette.

000000	000033	000066	000099	0000CC	0000FF
003300	003333	003366	003399	0033CC	0033FF
006600	006633	006666	006699	0066CC	0066FF
009900	009933	009966	009999	0099CC	0099FF
00CC00	00CC33	00CC66	00CC99	00CCCC	00CCFF
00FF00	00FF33	00FF66	00FF99	00FFCC	00FFFF
330000	330033	330066	330099	3300CC	3300FF
333300	333333	333366	333399	3333CC	3333FF
336600	336633	336666	336699	3366CC	3366FF
339900	339933	339966	339999	3399CC	3399FF
33CC00	33CC33	33CC66	33CC99	33CCCC	33CCFF
33FF00	33FF33	33FF66	33FF99	33FFCC	33FFFF
660000	660033	660066	660099	6600CC	6600FF
663300	663333	663366	663399	6633CC	6633FF
666600	666633	666666	666699	6666CC	6666FF
669900	669933	669966	669999	6699CC	6699FF
66CC00	66CC33	66CC66	66CC99	66CCCC	66CCFF
66FF00	66FF33	66FF66	66FF99	66FFCC	66FFFF
990000	990033	990066	990099	9900CC	9900FF
993300	993333	993366	993399	9933CC	9933FF
996600	996633	996666	996699	9966CC	9966FF
999900	999933	999966	999999	9999CC	9999FF
99CC00	99CC33	99CC66	99CC99	99CCCC	99CCFF
99FF00	99FF33	99FF66	99FF99	99FFCC	99FFFF
CC0000	CC0033	CC0066	CC0099	CC00CC	CC00FF
CC3300	CC3333	CC3366	CC3399	CC33CC	CC33FF
CC6600	CC6633	CC6666	CC6699	CC66CC	CC66FF
CC9900	CC9933	CC9966	CC9999	CC99CC	CC99FF
CCCC00	CCCC33	CCCC66	CCCC99	CCCCCC	CCCCFF
CCFF00	CCFF33	CCFF66	CCFF99	CCFFCC	CCFFFF
FF0000	FF0033	FF0066	FF0099	FF00CC	FF00FF
FF3300	FF3333	FF3366	FF3399	FF33CC	FF33FF
FF6600	FF6633	FF6666	FF6699	FF66CC	FF66FF
FF9900	FF9933	FF9966	FF9999	FF99CC	FF99FF
FFCC00	FFCC33	FFCC66	FFCC99	FFCCCC	FFCCFF
FFFF00	FFFF33	FFFF66	FFFF99	FFFFCC	FFFFFF

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