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How many colours are available on a computer today? Would you believe 16,000,000? Yes, that does say 16 million! By varying and mixing different shades in each pixel it’s possible to come up with this many colours on screen.
How many of these colours are suitable for every PC out there on the web? Only 216 are what we call ‘Web safe’. They will display correctly on older PC’s. A  fairly recent model will have no problem handling the first figure. But if your site is to be seen all over the world, not everyone has a modern PC and we dont know how they will look in different browsers.
For this reason, it’s best to use the web safe pallette when deciding on a scheme for your pages. click the image for a detailed view. |
When choosing a background colour think about what colour text will be used, and how easy it is to read. The best colour to use is white, which will contrast with most dark text colours.
If you find a white background too glaring, make sure you use a soft colour that is easy on the eyes. It’s difficult enough reading from a monitor at the best of times. Dont make it harder, you will lose visitors.
As I have done on this site, you can use a dark background, but make it easier to read by enclosing text with a lighter shade. I could have used white text on the dark background but personally think it make harder reading.
The same goes for a background image. Make sure it contrasts with the text colour. A faded image is less distracting. Backgroun images can be fixed, or scroll with the text. I published a page ages ago with a fixed background. I was experimenting with hand coding at the time so it’s a bit messy, but as it’s all I’ve got to use as an example, you can view it here.
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