When choosing colors for a website it is important to consider the meaning of color. Knowing what colors represent allows a web designer to choose a palate that will help convey the intended message of any given website. Once the general colors have been chosen, by meaning or preference, it is then time to find complimentary colors for the web design.

There are a number of free online tools that can help a designer choose colors wisely. Color Combos provides combinations of complimentary colors that are searchable by the focal color. The hex codes are provided under each color option to make using the colors in web design easier. This color wheel allows a designer to hover over a color and add it to a palette to reference at a later time. When a color is chosen, the hex code for a web safe, web smart, and unsafe version are provided.

This interactive color wheel allows the designer to apply values of red, green, and blue and adjust the tint and shade. The colors that are produced include the hex code and the wheel provides suggestions for complementary, monochrome, triadic, and analogous colors.

Hyper gURL has another interactive way to choose a color scheme. A sliding scale allows the user to choose the intensity of red, green, and blue—and then provides nine samples of complementary colors for the original color that is created.

The Color Palette Generator allows the user to put in the URL of an image and then extrapolates the colors and hex codes used in that image. This is useful if the color scheme needs to be designed around a specific image or logo.

Color Theory

Color theory helps artists and designers mix colors and create color combinations. Color Matters, Worqx, and Liquisoft all provide more in depth information on color theory.

Web Safe Colors

The term web safe color refers to colors that are best for web design. This was most important when the colors visible on a computer screen were more limited; however, the theory itself is still useful for today's designers.

W 3 Schools has a list of these colors as well as a brief explanation. The Browser Safe Web Palatte has more detailed information about the history and future of these colors, as well as a chart that organizes the colors by hue, and another chart that organizes them by hex value.


This was written by Printerinks.com the home of Printer inks and Laser Toner