Bleh, it seems they forgot to proof this or have it read by someone who ... I don't know, maybe knows a bit more about how it really works.<p><i>When computers name a color, they use a so-called hexidecimal code that most humans gloss over: 24-bit colors. That is, 16,777,216 unique combinations of exactly seven characters made from ten numerals and six letters — preceded by a hash mark.</i><p>I mean, "hexidecimal" is hopefully just a typo, but the "explanation" in the second sentence is off by one, it's not seven characters that make up the color, since the hash mark is constant and doesn't contribute. I would object to the "ten numerals and six letters" too, but I guess that's a suitable popular nomenclature.<p>And I don't even have a lawn ...
I'm all for designers learning a bit of the technical background behind colors on the web, but this article is full of technical inaccuracies, misconceptions, and misleading comparisons.<p>"Tens place"?
"24-bit color" ignores alpha and color palettes
"# means 'This is a hex number'": No, it means a web color expressed as 3 hex numbers.<p>Plus, I know it looks better to make your colors less saturated, but when you are demonstrating starting from #ff0000 and adding other colors, why not actually display #ff0000 instead of #e93f32?<p>Finally, spellcheck.
I found this article useful despite its errors. However, this article only reinforces my belief that it is easier to work with the HSL color notation. Young(Yello-60degree) Guys (Green-120) Can (Cyan-180) Be (Blue-240) Messy (Magenta-210) Rascals (Red-0/360) gives the visualization for hue. Saturation is between 0-100, where 0 is grayed out and 100 is full-hue. Lightness varies from 0-100, where 0 is blacked out, 100 is whited-out and 50 would give the color as-is.
As someone who is colorblind, a lot of my design is based on the logic behind colors rather than looks. Of course, I always let an actual designer approve, tinker with, or redo my work. There are a lot of inaccuracies in this piece but I like the gist of it.
It’s a good explanation of how hex colour codes work, but in this day and age it's so much simpler to use (and think in) rgb(n, n, n) notation. Not to mention the hsl(n, n%, n%) notation that is supported by modern browsers.
Excellent read. I've been interested in developing some sort of tool to help me select, save, and organize colors for custom palettes.<p>This will definitely help -- thanks!
Trying to work with color in RGB triplets is like trying to assemble furniture with a plastic fork. Any discussion of color for programmers needs to be in terms of HSL, with a discussion of Lab for completeness and RGB for dealing with legacy systems.