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THE WEB-SAFE COLOR PALETTE

Although most color computers have a capacity for at least 256 colors, only 216 colors are common to all computers. Newer computers are equipped with 64 thousand colors (16-bit) and the highest quality systems deliver 16.7 million colors (24-bit). However, approximately 10% of all computers are limited to 256 colors (8-bit).

This is the web-safe 216 color palette

216 color web safe palette

Yes, the graphic is very small! Download it by holding down the mousebutton on top of the image and save it. When you have it in your computer, use graphic software such as Photoshop to magnify it.

These are web-safe greens from the 216 color palette.

web-safe greens

You are limited to a certain range of greens (including these) if you address the web-safe range of hues.

If you use a green that is not one of the web-safe colors, the green will consist of a series of green dots (from the web-safe greens) that approximate the color. For example, the green below is not a web-safe green.

dithered greens

You can see an exaggeration of the "dithering" - the patching together of web-safe greens. This is how this color might look on computers that have 8-bit color.

On the other hand, many say that the web-safe palette is a thing of the past. Toss it or keep it? A great explanation of the sacred web colors is here.


Continue to explore this topic at the following links:
What is gamma? | Is your computer color blind? | How to improve your computer colors | Tips for Windows from a Pro | Web-Safe Colors | The future of color on the web | Comments and Links

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