True Colors
By Molly E. Holzschlag
Are you practicing safe color? Do you care? While the challenge of interoperable color has been somewhat ameliorated by the spread of better color-management systems, achieving consistent color across computers, platforms, and browsers is still very difficult, if not downright impossible.
Why is this, and how do you decide whether to adhere to Web-safe colors or toss the seemingly limited 216-color palette out the window? Integrating your knowledge of the way computers manage color, how the Web-safe palette came to be, and why safe isn't really safe will help you gain a deeper perspective on why Web color is the way it is. You will also learn to aim for the color results that best meet your needs.
Computer Color Technology
As if issues between code for differing browsers and platforms weren't enough to keep ibuprofen manufacturers in business, there's also the issue of interoperable color. The problems with inconsistent Web color from screen to screen are rooted in platform and browser issues.
From a technical perspective, computers can display a range of colors onscreen, depending upon the relationship between a computer and the platform it's on and the type of video memory available. This technology combined with the computer screen layout—which is essentially a grid made up of many small boxes (pixels)—brings your Web designs to the screen.
To achieve color in the digital world, light stimulus must be added to other light.
