Web safe colors, sometimes referred to as browser safe palettes are 216 colors that display solid, non-dithered and consistent across any computer monitor or web browser that is capable of showcasing at least 256 colors, or more commonly known as 8-bit color. Web safe palettes contains only 216 colors rather than the 25 maximum colors is because only 216 out of 256 will display the same on all browsers or computer monitors. When a color in an image as not available on a monitor, than a different color had to be used to replace it. The replacement color would either be the closest color to the original or a dithered color. This would slow down the rendering of the image but it would make it look better.
Dithering is a concept used in computer graphic to create the illusion of a color depth in images with a limited color palette. This technique may also be referred to as color quantization. In dithered images, a mix of various colored pixels from an available palette are used to create the missing or unavailable color. Web safe colors do not all have standard or specific names to them but they are able to be specified through an RBG triplet. Each individual component derived from red, green, and blue can take one of six values from a table including a key, hex, and decimal out of 256 possible values for each component. A hex color code is a way to represent a color that is used with CSS and it is called a hex because each character of the color code can hold one of 16 possible colors. An RGB color code is another way to specify a color code because it gives you access to the same colors as hex color codes. It doesn’t make a difference whether you use hex or RBG colors because modern browsers support both.
Fortunately, web safe color palettes are not relevant or necessary anymore. These palettes were important in the 90s and early 2000s but now modern computer monitors, phones, tablets, etc have at least 16-bit color and even most of the time 24-bit color which allows for millions of colors to be displayed. 256 shades of red, 256 shades of green, and 256 shades of blue can now be specified for an allowed 16,777,216 colors nowadays. Old devices had color limitations for several reasons but mostly due to the high cost of video RAM. The more colors are used in an image, the more RAM is required to display it. Unless you’re working with a very old device, than there is no need to stick to web safe palettes anymore. Now, it is important to prioritize the contrast in images rather than how many and which colors are used in an image.
Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Emily Ramirez 