HTML - Colors

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Colors are very important to give a good look and feel to your website. You can specify colors on page level using <body> tag or you can set colors for individual tags using bgcolor attribute.

The <body> 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 specify 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 −

Live Demo 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

   <head>
      <title>HTML Colors by Name</title>
   </head>
	
   <body text = "blue" bgcolor = "green">
      <p>Use different color names for for body and table and see the result.</p>
      
      <table bgcolor = "black">
         <tr>
            <td>
               <font color = "white">This text will appear white on black background.</font>
            </td>
         </tr>
      </table>
   </body>
   
</html>

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 −

Live Demo 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

   <head>
      <title>HTML Colors by Hex</title>
   </head>
	
   <body text = "#0000FF" bgcolor = "#00FF00">
      <p>Use different color hexa for for body and table and see the result.</p>
      
      <table bgcolor = "#000000">
         <tr>
            <td>
               <font color = "#FFFFFF">This text will appear white on black background.</font>
            </td>
         </tr>
      </table>
   </body>
   
</html>

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 −

Live Demo 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

   <head>
      <title>HTML Colors by RGB code</title>
   </head>
	
   <body text = "rgb(0,0,255)" bgcolor = "rgb(0,255,0)">
      <p>Use different color code for for body and table and see the result.</p>
      
      <table bgcolor = "rgb(0,0,0)">
         <tr>
            <td>
               <font color = "rgb(255,255,255)">This text will appear white on black background.</font>
            </td>
         </tr>
      </table>
   </body>
   
</html>

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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