Appendix C. System Colors

In addition to being able to assign predefined color values to text, backgrounds, and so on, CSS2.1 allows authors to specify colors in a manner that integrates them into the user's graphic environment. Style rules that take into account user preferences thus offer the following advantages:

• They produce pages that fit the user's defined look and feel.

• They produce pages that may be more accessible as the current user settings may be related to a disability.

The set of values defined for system colors is intended to be exhaustive. For systems that do not have a corresponding value, the specified value should be mapped to the nearest system attribute or to a default color.

Table C.1 lists additional values for color-related CSS attributes and their general meaning. Any color property (e.g., color or background-color) can take one of the following names. Although these are case-insensitive, it is recommended that the mixed capitalization shown below be used to make the names more legible.

Table 18.1. System colors in CSS 2.1.

System color name	Description
ActiveBorder	Active window border.
ActiveCaption	Active window caption.
AppWorkspace	Background color of multiple document interface.
Background	Desktop background.
ButtonFace	Face color for three-dimensional display elements.
ButtonHighlight	Dark shadow for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing away from the light source).
ButtonShadow	Shadow color for three-dimensional display elements.
ButtonText	Text on push buttons.
CaptionText	Text in caption, size box, and scrollbar arrow box.
GrayText	Grayed (disabled) text. This color is set to #000 if the current display driver does not support a solid gray color.
Highlight	Item(s) selected in a control.
HighlightText	Text of item(s) selected in a control.
InactiveBorder	Inactive window border.
InactiveCaption	Inactive window caption.
InactiveCaptionText	Color of text in an inactive caption.
InfoBackground	Background color for tooltip controls.
InfoText	Text color for tooltip controls.
Menu	Menu background.
MenuText	Text in menus.
Scrollbar	Scroll bar gray area.
ThreeDDarkShadow	Dark shadow for three-dimensional display elements.
ThreeDFace	Face color for three-dimensional display elements.
ThreeDHighlight	Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements.
ThreeDLightShadow	Light color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source).
ThreeDShadow	Dark shadow for three-dimensional display elements.
Window	Window background.
WindowFrame	Window frame.
WindowText	Text in windows.