Web Safe Colors
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- Bio0
i use them only when i am sad.
- MR_T0
Websafe colours are used by account execs and also clients, who know sweet fuck all about anything.
A LITTLE information can be a very dangerous thing.
- noneck0
The websafe color pallete only applied to 256 color displays. Anything above that starts to butcher the pallete somewhat.
An article published on webmokey about three and a half years ago explains (and shows) that there are really ony 22 websafe colours right now (http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmo...
Here's the article: http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmon…
When working, I'll use any color, really. It pisses me off that I can't seem to redefine the default color pallette in flash (where I do most of my work).
Pantones are always cool, but I also like the Toyo pallete for some variety.
Ditch the 216 color pallette.
- IRNlun60
i figured that. i rarely use them any more but find it convenient(to a certain extent) to select from a limited palette rather than clicking through hundreds of hex colors. does anyone have any technics to simplify this process?
- jpowell0
i use that way of selection also. it helps find colors that are about the same level. but, sometimes 256 isn't enough.
- CX0
Bright and cheesy. Uh thats what I meant:
Mostly, the palette contains far less light and dark colors than I wish it did, and is heavy on highly saturated colors and low on muted, tinted or toned colors." - Lynda Weinman
- IRNlun60
i'm not trying to bite anyones color palette's.
its not like we have pantone chips to choose colors to use for a web-site.
I can't find anything on how people go about this.
- MobyGrape0
they are the new retro thing, after crests and wood grain
- jandiro0
Newstoday™ uses them
- monNom0
I use websafes for text, and try to keep any screen text off of non-websafe backgrounds... for the simple reason that dithered colour makes screen text read like shit.
I think it's perfectly fine to use non-websafe colours for some parts of the design, but when it comes to text, i generally opt for a web safe.
- CX0
a lot of websafe colors look really bright and cheesy.
- bob0
I continue to use the Web Spectrum.
I fine that for one, the colors suit minimalist site design very well. Two, many home computers monitors are still seen in a 800 x 600 resolution. (I can not utter the words that come over me when I see a site I designed in not web safe colors, on one of those monitors)
Sure with the growing prevalence of LCDs one could design using what ever colors they want, just as most flash sites are not viewable by the blind or by dial-up, but for a corporate site, I find no reason to exclude those minorities.
Finally, using a select few colors keeps things simple and prevents slight errors in matching colors.
Just as the newspaper is black and white and read all over....
Websites need not go to any extremes with color to present relevant content to the viewer.
- noneck0
The problems with the web-safe pallette have nothing to do with the reolution (800x600) or the type of display (LCD vs CRT).
Rather, it has to do with teh fact that if your *video card* is set to display 16 or 24 bit color, it can't render most of the web safe colors accurately.
Lynda Weinman (often credited with INVENTING the web-safe pallette) acknowledges that it's time has passed - even as a limited color set to choose from (right here).
"The browser-safe palette was developed by programmers with no design sense, I assure you. That's because a designer would have never picked these colors. Mostly, the palette contains far less light and dark colors than I wish it did, and is heavy on highly saturated colors and low on muted, tinted or toned colors." - Lynda Weinman
- noneck0
Link didn't post.
- Nirvous0
IRNlun6, All the pantone colors are in Photoshop
- IRNlun60
i think this issue is just as important as browser types, screen sizes, frames vs iframes etc.... just don't read about it much. thanks all for the replies.
- CyBrainX0
Designing with web safe colors is like designing for 640x480. same era, same age monitors.
Don't do it. It's a useless limitation on your creativity.
I can't imagine a case where your target audience would be about 3% of the general population.
- imaletin0
I only use web safe colors in web design, better safe than sorry.
- kpl0
web safe is still useful for people who are running in 16-bit color mode, since exact colors really don't show up on those displays well. ie, check out lennykravitz.com in 16 and 24 bit mode
- bob0
Is a newspaper's target audience those that are color blind?
I do not disagree that limitations are not required, if you know your audience.
Yet when content reigns supreme and presentation is valued all the same, causing anyones screen to appear unintentionally dark, is something I can avoid.
I have the utmost respect for designers that can layout a site that presence its self the same to all views, no matter how small the % may be.