Understanding Hexidecimal Colors - Why You Should!!

In web design practice, the usage of colors is a common activity. HTML elements that are contained in web pages could have various color attributes specified. Colors can be defined automatically, using a WYSIWYG HTML editor or manually.

Speed Up Design

To speed up your website design processes, you must understand the the color attribute for web page background, table background, fonts, forms and more. The RGB system functions assuming that every color is formed by a mixture of basic colors: red, green and blue. In HTML documents, a color is indicated by its name or RGB HEX equivalent code. Basically, any color can be defined through a corresponding hexadecimal notation.

An example 000000 is the hexadecimal for pure black. Every two numbers (00 in this case) represent the amount of red, green and blue, contained in the color. To make black the red color, then the first value for its contribution in HEX code must be specified: FF0000. In this way, by modifying the numbers corresponding to a certain red, green and blue contribution, you will be able to create the desired HTML color or to modify an existing one on the fly.

The Internet has many color tables displaying the hexadecimal code, RGB equivalent and demo color. You can also use color pickers scripts that will output the hexadecimal code for a chosen color. It is recommended to maintain the default black and white colors if you have to present mainly text content in your web pages. Colorblind people will not make any difference between red and green.

Increase 508 Comopliance for American's w/ Disabilities

Increasing your web site accessibility by increasing the contrasting colors, select only complementary colors for text, background and menus. Complex color effects, such as multiple color gradients may not be rendered correctly by web browsers. Implement single colors with simple shading effects instead. Understanding the hexadecimal color codes can help you save a lot of time when you need to establish the best color combination for your website.

As with all other things you have to decide how important it is for a wide range of people to view your site easily. If you are issuing a link to people with a sales page - most times you present contrast in any way you want as compared to global targets where you would want to ensure your website design is going to accepted and readable by all.

Jason Chandler aka Seharness