Welcome, come on in. To your right, you'll find a fine array of very good resources for web-based design. I've done a lot of research, continue to do more, and would love to hear from you if you've found other great design sites. Please don't hesitate to email me with questions or link/article suggestions. That's why we're here!
Sunday, November 27
What the #fff is that?
Colors on the web are a bit different than the ones at Sherwin-Williams. When former VP Al Gore invented the internet he also invented a whole new way to name colors, called hexadecimal. He always was a bit stuffy, don't you think? Just kidding--everybody knows Bill Gates invented the world wide web. Anyway, the whole color thing isn't really too bad. Web hues use the R-G-B (red/green/blue) mix system. Web standards use a couple different methods to define those mixes. Basically, three pairs of letters and/or numbers tell your browser what color to display. (The web big-wigs let in some basic color names, too, but not many.) Some colors are very simple mixes, so they only need three letters or numbers to represent the six pairs. For instance, #fff could also be written #ffffff, but that would be redundant. I think.
You don't have to learn any of these six- or three-place color codes, though. You'll get used to seeing the common ones. White is #fff, black is #000, and all sorts of grays can be made with groups like #666666 or #737373. It's all in the proportions of red/green/blue. Try making up numbers and see if they are colors, just for fun. When you're ready to pick some real colors, though, the best place to start (in my opinion) is at Kim Jensen's Colormatch 5k. Don't worry, it's a legit site with no apparent evil motives. Go ahead, take a look and come on back. [by the way, the Web Color Sets link on the right-side links group goes there, too.]
You can see, by sliding the buttons back and forth, how the cute little six-place (hexadecimal) color names are generated. By picking one primary color you end up with a palette of six hues that should look good together. That depends, of course, on what you do with those six offerings. Go ahead and choose a possible color scheme, write down the hex-names, and we'll go forward from there. [if you're wondering how I made that little fake button in the paragraph above-- stick around, we'll get to that!]
You don't have to learn any of these six- or three-place color codes, though. You'll get used to seeing the common ones. White is #fff, black is #000, and all sorts of grays can be made with groups like #666666 or #737373. It's all in the proportions of red/green/blue. Try making up numbers and see if they are colors, just for fun. When you're ready to pick some real colors, though, the best place to start (in my opinion) is at Kim Jensen's Colormatch 5k. Don't worry, it's a legit site with no apparent evil motives. Go ahead, take a look and come on back. [by the way, the Web Color Sets link on the right-side links group goes there, too.]
You can see, by sliding the buttons back and forth, how the cute little six-place (hexadecimal) color names are generated. By picking one primary color you end up with a palette of six hues that should look good together. That depends, of course, on what you do with those six offerings. Go ahead and choose a possible color scheme, write down the hex-names, and we'll go forward from there. [if you're wondering how I made that little fake button in the paragraph above-- stick around, we'll get to that!]
