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HEX has a number base of 16 (our decimal has a base of 10) and uses the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, a, b, c, d, e, and f.
The RBC chart shows the '216 browser-safe colors' with and use hex in steps of 3, - 0, 3, 6, 9, c and f

The colours between each step are for you to explore.
This chart uses 'triplets' so the step between units 1 to 3 is really from 11 to 33 fractions of the range of 256 steps. By triplet, the computer takes the colour code #16a and renders it as #1166aa.

Example changes red       16a             36a             56a             76a             96a             b6a             d6a             f6a      
   changes green e17 e37 e57 e77 e97 eb7 ed7 ef7
   changes blue 1e1 1e3 1e5 1e7 1e9 1eb 1ed 1ef

Change this background

#F0F8FF

246
#FAEBD7

237
#F5F5DC

242
#F0FFF0

248
#E6E6FA

232
#FFF0F5

245
#E0FFFF

245
#AFEEEE

219
#FFF5EE

247
#F5F5F5;

245

HEX arranged using colours outside these barriers is used by 1536colours, a very big document. This file is 172Kb and very complicated for the browser to display, so give it several seconds to load. For some users this file is so fat and complex, it may choke your poor system. If that happens, just hit your back button and back on out fast.
(For whatever reason, IE seemed to be able to handle it better than Netscape.)

To see the 1536 colors plus several grays: you should be running in Hi-Color (64,000 colors) mode or greater for your browser to be able to distinguish all these different colors.

Guideline from W3A. Don't rely on color alone.

Checkpoint 2.1 - Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup Technique 2.1.1 [priority 1] Verify that information conveyed with color is available without color Evaluation:

* Elements: IMG | APPLET | OBJECT | SCRIPT | INPUT | as well as the HTML elements and attributes listed in the next technique (2.2.1).

Suggested message:

* Ensure that information is not conveyed through color alone. For example, when asking for input from users, do not write "Please select an item from those listed in green." Instead, ensure that information is available through other style effects (e.g., a font effect) and through context (e.g,. comprehensive text links).

Suggested repair:

* Display a user notification if any of the color-possible elements are in the document.

Checkpoint 2.2 - Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen
Technique 2.2.1 [priority 3] Test the color attributes of the following elements for visibility: Evaluation:

* Elements:
o BODY bgcolor | text | alink | link | vlink | background =anything OR
o TABLE bordercolor | bgcolor =anything OR
o TD | TH bgcolor =anything OR
o HR color =anything OR
o any_element style="any_color_specification"
o STYLE "any_color_specification"... STYLE
o Where any_color_specification is defined as any CSS specification which contains:
color | background-color | background-image | background

* Requirement: Determine color visibility.

Ideally, images and multimedia object should also be tested for color visibility but algorithms are beyond the scope of this specification.

Color visibility can be determined according to the following algorithm:

(This is a suggested algorithm that is still open to change.)

Two colors provide good color visibility if the brightness difference and the color difference between the two colors are greater than a set range.

Color brightness is determined by the following formula:
((Red value X 299) + (Green value X 587) + (Blue value X 114)) / 1000
Note: This algorithm is taken from a formula for converting RGB values to YIQ values.
This brightness value gives a perceived brightness for a color.
orange FF7F50 (255, 127,80) has a brightness of [(255*229) + (127*587) + (80*114)]/1000 = 142.064
The difference between the background brightness, and the foreground brightness should be greater than 125.

Color difference is determined by the following formula:
(maximum (Red value 1, Red value 2) - minimum (Red value 1, Red value 2)) +
(maximum (Green value 1, Green value 2) - minimum (Green value 1, Green value 2)) +
(maximum (Blue value 1, Blue value 2) - minimum (Blue value 1, Blue value 2))

Eg difference between orange FF7F50 (255, 127,80) and purple bb66cc (187, 102, 204) -
(maximum (255, 187) - min( (255, 187)) + (max (127, 102) - min(127, 102)) + (max (80, 204) - min((80, 204))
(255 - 187) + (127 - 102) + (204 - 80) = 217

The rage for color brightness difference is 125. The range for color difference is 500.

Examples

Colour scheme Orange and mediumblue Yellowgreen and greenyellow deeppink and darkred Pale and black forestgreen and palegreen
Colour scheme 255,165,0 and 0,0,205 154,205,50 and 173,255,47 255,20,147 and 139,0,0 255, 255, 221 and 0, 0, 0 34,139,34 and 152,251,152
Brightness Orange 160
and mediumblue 23
Yellowgreen 172
and greenyellow 206
deeppink 105
darkred 41
Pale background 251
and black 0
forestgreen 96
with palegreen 210
brightness Difference >125 136 34 63 251 114
Colour Difference >500 217 72 283 722 348
Better Colour choices peachpuff and mediumblue 493 Yellowgreen and black
409
lightpink and darkred
491
white and black
766
darkgreen and palegreen
455
Suggested message:

* Poor visibility between text and background colors.

Suggested repair:

* Allow the user to change the poor color combinations.
* Store any good color combinations entered by the user and use them as default prompts in the future. A simple java script that allows you to experiment is Hextest, record your variants. The page 140 Colours uses only the named colours, and shows all combinations for these shades.

Enjoy!

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the 140 Colour the page, using hex numbers,
HEXbcr, HEX test, Complex about colour,
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, Elizabeth Janson

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