Web-Safe Color Demo

Although I'm no longer strict about using web-safe colors when spec'ing html hex codes, I try to ensure that the colors I use will not shift to objectionable colors on low-res monitors. (For more about web colors, also see a list of hex codes, a list of basic color names, and Joe Burn's explanation of hex codes.)

The Color Picker in Adobe ImageReady warns web authors that a color is not web safe, and it shows how a web-safe color might shift to a non-web-safe color.

In the screenshot on the right, a tan lighter than the web-safe #CC9966 is desired (the web-safe color is at the bottom of the box on the top right of the screenshot). However, the particular tan that the cursor is over will shift to web-safe green #CCCC99, as indicated by the warning on the far top right.

To demonstrate how low-res monitors might shift when rendering colors coded in HTML, I've used variations of tan as an example.

Below are 4 sets of color bars. The 2 sets of color bars on the left are displayed using GIF images. However, the 2 sets of color bars on the right are hex codes in this page's HTML and are rendered by your machine. Theoretically, the coded colors on the right should look like the colors in the GIFs on the left.