University of Greenwich
Website and presentation by James Barker, 3rd December 2003.
Should websites be designed in such a way as to allow the user to decide how they are rendered or should web designers attempt to exert the same control over their designs that print designers have?
Web safe colours
What are web safe colours and what's the issue?
Web Safe, or Browser Safe palettes as they are also referred to, consist of 216 colours that display solid, non-dithered, and consistent on any computer monitor, or web browser, capable of displaying at least 8-bit colour (256 colours). The reason why this palette contains only 216 colours, instead of the maximum 256 colours, is that only 216 out of the basic 256 colours will display exactly the same on all computers.
However, this is extremely limiting to the web designer. If web safe colours are not used, the old monitor will either use a similar colour, or attempt to recreate the missing colour using dithering. All control the web designer thought they had over colour is lost as the browser alternates (dithers) pixel colours to provide only an illusion of the true colour. The site can end up a bit messy.
The good news is that less than 10%* of users have these old monitors. The designer should now be using any colour from the full 16 million palette. If colour is not a feature on your site you may as well use web safe colours. Remember also that company logo colours may not be web safe but the client will be expecting you to maintain brand and match the colour exactly.
* Source: Upsdell.com