Chapter 4: Introduce and Control Color

Overview

How to…

• Understand color theory

• Use the basic palette

• Mix your own colors

• Understand browser-safe colors

• Choose pleasing colors

• Create an HTML color chart

The Web is a world of color—more than 16 million colors, to be specific. All those choices can be a daunting prospect for a Web designer, making you either throw up your hands in confusion or throw caution to the wind and choose whatever colors seem good to you. This chapter covers the science and art of doing color on the Web. It is a science because you can select from those 16 million colors with mathematical precision. It is an art because a failure to use color wisely can result in a page that is difficult to read, hard on the eyes, or hopelessly gaudy. On the other hand, thoughtfully chosen color combinations can say to the people who visit your site, “This is a class operation.”