"Safe" RGB Colors

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) defines color in terms of red, green and blue relationships or "RGB." Colors, as defined by HTML, are six-character values called hexadecimal codes. Computers can display over 16.7 million colors. However, HTML documents (Web pages) allow only 256 "safe" colors per document.

Bee-low are the 216 colors considered "safe" to use in Web pages. (But wait, didn't a Bee just say that Web pages display 256 colors? What about the other 40 colors? Well, it's like this: Microsoft reserves 40 colors for their Windows operating system. Nice guys, huh?)

Blue=00
Blue=33
Blue=66 Blue=99
Blue=cc
Blue=ff Non-colors
Examples of
Use

Now a little information about hexadecimal codes. A hexadecimal code looks something like ffcc00. The first two characters (ff) represent the red value, the next two (cc) are for the green value, and the last two (00) tell the computer what amount of blue to display. The computer reads this RGB code (ffcc00) and displays the color:

ffcc00 red = ff
green = cc
blue = 00

As you can see, there are thousands of hexadecimal combinations used to generate the 6.7 million+ colors on computer screens. However, the 216 "safe" colors use only the 00, 33, 66, 99, cc, and ff values. The following tables show these 216 "safe" colors with their hexadecimal codes. See bottom of this page for examples of using hexadecimal color codes in HTML. For more colors and hex codes, see Hexadecimal Coloring.

Note: This page requires a Web browser that supports color-filled table cells.

Where Blue Equals "00"

ff	ff0000	ff3300	ff6600	ff9900	ffcc00	ffff00
cc	cc0000	cc3300	cc6600	cc9900	cccc00	ccff00
99	990000	993300	996600	999900	99cc00	99ff00
66	660000	663300	666600	669900	66cc00	66ff00
33	330000	333300	336600	339900	33cc00	33ff00
00	000000	003300	006600	009900	00cc00	00ff00
	00	33	66	99	cc	ff
	Green

Where Blue Equals "33"

ff	ff0033	ff3333	ff6633	ff9933	ffcc33	ffff33
cc	cc0033	cc3333	cc6633	cc9933	cccc33	ccff33
99	990033	993333	996633	999933	99cc33	99ff33
66	660033	663333	666633	669933	66cc33	66ff33
33	330033	333333	336633	339933	33cc33	33ff33
00	000033	003333	006633	009933	00cc33	00ff33
	00	33	66	99	cc	ff
	Green

Where Blue Equals "66"

ff	ff0066	ff3366	ff6666	ff9966	ffcc66	ffff66
cc	cc0066	cc3366	cc6666	cc9966	cccc66	ccff66
99	990066	993366	996666	999966	99cc66	99ff66
66	660066	663366	666666	669966	66cc66	66ff66
33	330066	333366	336666	339966	33cc66	33ff66
00	000066	003366	006666	009966	00cc66	00ff66
	00	33	66	99	cc	ff
	Green

Where Blue Equals "99"

ff	ff0099	ff3399	ff6699	ff9999	ffcc99	ffff99
cc	cc0099	cc3399	cc6699	cc9999	cccc99	ccff99
99	990099	993399	996699	999999	99cc99	99ff99
66	660099	663399	666699	669999	66cc99	66ff99
33	330099	333399	336699	339999	33cc99	33ff99
00	000099	003399	006699	009999	00cc99	00ff99
	00	33	66	99	cc	ff
	Green

Where Blue Equals "cc"

ff	ff00cc	ff33cc	ff66cc	ff99cc	ffcccc	ffffcc
cc	cc00cc	cc33cc	cc66cc	cc99cc	cccccc	ccffcc
99	9900cc	9933cc	9966cc	9999cc	99cccc	99ffcc
66	6600cc	6633cc	6666cc	6699cc	66cccc	66ffcc
33	3300cc	3333cc	3366cc	3399cc	33cccc	33ffcc
00	0000cc	0033cc	0066cc	0099cc	00cccc	00ffcc
	00	33	66	99	cc	ff
	Green

Where Blue Equals "ff"

ff	ff00ff	ff33ff	ff66ff	ff99ff	ffccff	ffffff
cc	cc00ff	cc33ff	cc66ff	cc99ff	ccccff	ccffff
99	9900ff	9933ff	9966ff	9999ff	99ccff	99ffff
66	6600ff	6633ff	6666ff	6699ff	66ccff	66ffff
33	3300ff	3333ff	3366ff	3399ff	33ccff	33ffff
00	0000ff	0033ff	0066ff	0099ff	00ccff	00ffff
	00	33	66	99	cc	ff
	Green

Non-colors

		000000	333333	666666	999999	cccccc	ffffff
		Black	Greys				White

Examples of Use

For inside the page's BODY tag set:

For setting the page's background color:

<BODY BGCOLOR="ffffff">

For setting the page's text color:

<BODY TEXT="000000">

For setting the page's hyperlink color:

<BODY LINK="00007d">

For setting the page's visited hyperlink color:

<BODY VLINK="666699">

For setting the page's active hyperlink color:

<BODY ALINK="ff0000">

Example of color settings for page's BODY tag:

<BODY BGCOLOR="ffffff" TEXT="000000" LINK="00007d" VLINK="666699" ALINK="ff0000">

Tip: Set all these color attributes in the BODY tag to avoid color conflicts.

For setting specific colors within an HTML document:

Text:

<FONT COLOR="000000">The quick brown fox.</FONT>

Tables:

Table's background color:

<TABLE BGCOLOR="333300">

Header cell within a table:

<TH BGCOLOR="ffffff">

Data cell within a table:

<TD BGCOLOR="000000">