What Is A HTML Colour Code?

What Is A HTML Colour Code
Wikimedia

Date First Published: 26th August 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Design

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 7/10

Learn more about what a HTML colour code is in this article.

A HTML colour code is a triplet hexadecimal method of representing a colour in an RGB format. Three values are combined together, including red, green, and blue in order to digitally make up a colour for use on webpages. HTML colour codes are used for specifying the font colour and background colour of a wide range of HTML elements, including tables, headings, paragraphs, borders, images, and more. For example, the colour code #008000, which is '0' red, '128' green, and '0' blue is the default green colour. With possible arrangements of 0-255 ranges for the three colour values, there are 16,777,216 possible HTML colour codes.

Everyday colours have names, such as blue, yellow, and red. But, there are also hundreds of different shades of colours that all have their own names. For example, there are different shades of blue, including azure, cyan, deep sky blue, dodger blue, light blue, light sky blue, midnight blue, navy, etc. When getting very specific, these colour names can be interpreted differently by other people. Someone might think that deep sky blue is the same as dodger blue. In order to avoid this issue, HTML colour codes are used, which can be interpreted by a computer to display the correct colour on a screen.

Note: Info Icon

The CYMK (cyan, yellow, magenta, and black) system is not supported in HTML and CSS and there is no way to use it. However, it was suggested as a new standard in CSS4. That colour system is often used for managing colour printing.

Hex Codes

Hex codes are most commonly used and are made up of three-byte hexadecimal numbers preceded by a hashtag (#). Each byte represents the intensity of the three colours (red, green, and blue). Because it is hexadecimal, the hex code can only contain digits and the letters ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’, and ‘F’. This means that values can range from '00' (the lowest intensity) to 'FF' (the highest intensity).

The default blue colour has the hexadecimal code '#0000FF' as it represents the highest intensity of blue and the lowest intensity of the two other colours (red and green). White has the hexadecimal code '#FFFFFF' as it is a mix of all three primary colours at their highest intensity. Since black is the opposite of white, it would have the hexadecimal code '#000000' as it has no primary colours and is the lowest intensity of all three primary colours.

HTML Colour Code Tool
Htmlcolorcodes.com

You can play around with online tools, such as colour wheels and colour pickers in order to get more familiar with hex codes. Once you find a colour that you want to use on a HTML element, always take note of the hex code so that you can reuse the same colour across multiple designs, which is important for consistency. HTML colours are very important for the design of a website and help to make a website more memorable, visually appealing, and create a pleasant composition.

Instead of using almost every colour from the colour wheel, you should try to stick to a few colours in the design of a website and create a theme, which is what most companies use for brand recognition. For more information on how to change the colour of a HTML element, see CSS.

Predefined Colour Names Supported By Browsers

All modern browsers support the following predefined colour names. These colour names can be applied to an element just by specifying the colour name, such as 'background-color: green' rather than the hexadecimal colour code 'background-color: #008000' and are much easier to remember.

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If you try to use these colours in a HTML document, always write them in lowercase. For example, use 'background-color:aliceblue' instead of 'background-color:AliceBlue' otherwise the colour will not display and it will not be recognised as a valid colour name.

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One of the colours can be spelt 'grey', the British English spelling, or 'gray', the American English spelling. Both spellings will display the exact same shade of colour.

Colour Name Colour Code
AliceBlue #F0F8FF
AntiqueWhite #FAEBD7
Aqua #00FFFF
Aquamarine #7FFFD4
Azure #F0FFFF
Beige #F5F5DC
Bisque #FFE4C4
Black #000000
BlanchedAlmond #FFEBCD
Blue #0000FF
BlueViolet #8A2BE2
Brown #A52A2A
BurlyWood #DEB887
CadetBlue #5F9EA0
Chartreuse #7FFF00
Chocolate #D2691E
Coral #FF7F50
CornflowerBlue #FFF8DC
Crimson #DC143C
Cyan #00FFFF
DarkBlue #00008B
DarkCyan #008B8B
DarkGoldenRod #B8860B
DarkGrey #A9A9A9
DarkGreen #006400
DarkKhaki #BDB76B
DarkMagenta #8B008B
DarkOliveGreen #556B2F
DarkOrange #FF8C00
DarkOrchid #9932CC
DarkRed #8B0000
DarkSalmon #E9967A
DarkSeaGreen #8FBC8F
DarkSlateBlue #483D8B
DarkSlateGrey #2F4F4F
DarkTurquoise #00CED1
DarkViolet #9400D3
DeepPink #FF1493
DeepSkyBlue #00BFFF
DimGrey #696969
DodgerBlue #1E90FF
FireBrick #B22222
FloralWhite #FFFAF0
ForestGreen #228B22
Fuchsia #FF00FF
Gainsboro #DCDCDC
GhostWhite #F8F8FF
Gold #FFD700
GoldenRod #DAA520
Grey #808080
Green #008000
GreenYellow #ADFF2F
HoneyDew #F0FFF0
HotPink #FF69B4
IndianRed #CD5C5C
Indigo #4B0082
Ivory #FFFFF0
Khaki #F0E68C
Lavender #E6E6FA
LavenderBlush #FFF0F5
LawnGreen #7CFC00
LemonChiffon #FFFACD
LightBlue #ADD8E6
LightCoral #F08080
LightCyan #E0FFFF
LightGoldenRodYellow #FAFAD2
LightGrey #D3D3D3
LightGreen #90EE90
LightPink #FFB6C1
LightSalmon #FFA07A
LightSeaGreen #20B2AA
LightSkyBlue #87CEFA
LightSlateGrey #778899
LightSteelBlue #B0C4DE
LightYellow #FFFFE0
Lime #00FF00
LimeGreen #32CD32
Linen #FAF0E6
Magenta #FF00FF
Maroon #800000
MediumAquaMarine #66CDAA
MediumBlue #0000CD
MediumOrchid #BA55D3
MediumPurple #9370DB
MediumSeaGreen #3CB371
MediumSlateBlue #7B68EE
MediumSpringGreen #00FA9A
MediumTurquoise #48D1CC
MediumVioletRed #C71585
MidnightBlue #191970
MintCream #F5FFFA
MistyRose #FFE4E1
Moccasin #FFE4B5
NavajoWhite #FFDEAD
Navy #000080
OldLace #FDF5E6
Olive #808000
OliveDrab #6B8E23
Orange #FFA500
OrangeRed #FF4500
Orchid #DA70D6
PaleGoldenRod #EEE8AA
PaleGreen #98FB98
PaleTurquoise #AFEEEE
PaleVioletRed #DB7093
PapayaWhip #FFEFD5
PeachPuff #FFDAB9
Peru #CD853F
Pink #FFC0CB
Plum #DDA0DD
PowderBlue #B0E0E6
Purple #800080
RebeccaPurple #663399
Red #FF0000
RosyBrown #BC8F8F
RoyalBlue #4169E1
SaddleBrown #8B4513
Salmon #FA8072
SandyBrown #F4A460
SeaGreen #2E8B57
SeaShell #FFF5EE
Sienna #A0522D
Silver #C0C0C0
SkyBlue #87CEEB
SlateBlue #6A5ACD
SlateGrey #708090
Snow #FFFAFA
SpringGreen #00FF7F
SteelBlue #4682B4
Tan #D2B48C
Teal #008080
Thistle #D8BFD8
Tomato #FF6347
Turquoise #40E0D0
Violet #EE82EE
Wheat #F5DEB3
White #FFFFFF
WhiteSmoke #F5F5F5
Yellow #FFFF00
YellowGreen #9ACD32


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