HTML Color Chart

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is a language that is used to specify the design and layout of Internet web pages.  In the HTML language, colors are identified using the additive RGB (red, green, blue) color system.  In this system, a color's red, green, and blue light intensities are each specified using 2 hexadecimal digits (8 bits).  This scheme allows for 256 red, green, and blue intensity levels — for a total of 16,777,216 possible colors!  For example, full intensity red – ff – with no green or blue intensity produces the color red, which is coded as ff0000.  Full intensities of red and green – ffff – with no blue intensity produces the color yellow, coded as ffff00.  Full intensities of red, green, and blue produce white, which is coded ffffff.

The human eye can readily distinguish less than 10 million juxtaposed colors, but only a few thousand distinct colors are generally used for graphic design purposes.  This convenient HTML color chart enables web designers and graphic artists to experiment with movable, resizable color swatches for about four thousand RGB colors.

HTML Colors are Specified using RGB (Red/Green/Blue) Color Codes

Click a color intensity sample in the color table above to display a table of 256 HTML colors with the specified color intensity.  Then click an HTML color sample in the detailed color table to display its HTML color code and a movable, resizable swatch of that color.

Web Design Color Guidelines

When selecting colors for a web design, remember a few basic guidelines.

• Use color families to create a harmonious and appealing presentation, especially if you expect your users to peruse a great deal of information.  For example, choose warm reds, browns, oranges and yellows with warm backgrounds; select cool blues, greens, grays and whites with cool backgrounds.

• Use contrast to accentuate and draw attention to particular information.  A moderate amount of contrast is visually appealing, but too much contrast can distract visitors from your presentation and message.

• Red and blue are at opposite ends of the color spectrum, and the human eye has difficulty focusing on these two colors simultaneously.  Avoid using red type on a blue background or vice versa.

• Consider using the 216 Web Safe Colors that are compatible with most 256 color displays, including those found on Internet-capable cell phones and PDAs.