Tutorial #5: The Color Coder

Whereas ancient browser versions (i.e., 2.0) only allowed for 16 named colors, modern browsers allow for 140 different ones. Each is shown below in their full beauty, along with their actual color name (column 2), hexadecimal value (column 3) and its nearest web-safe color (column 4).

Depending on the monitor, some will display the actual color, and some will display the nearest "safe" color. Some monitors and browsers may only be able to display a limited range of colors, and so will often default to the nearest one. Developers must be aware of these possibilities when creating their sites, because their appearance can vary considerably across users. What looks good on one monitor may look terrible on another.

These colors can be used to specify a background color (bgcolor="") in the BODY tag, as well as in TABLE, TR, TH, and TD tags. You can also use the same colors in FONT and H1-H6 tags (color=""). They can also be used in the HR tag using the same color="" specification. (If you use hexadecimal color codes, be sure to always put the # symbol in front of it---like color="#F0F8FF")