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Tech - Posts to comp.infosystems.www.*

From: "Philipp Lenssen" <phil@mrinfo.de>
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html
Subject: Re: websafe colors
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 14:26:24 +0200
Message-ID: <8pij2c$afd$16$1@news.t-online.com>
Craig Keefner <keefner@visi.com> schrieb in im Newsbeitrag:
39B97475.DF2D53A2@visi.com...
> i always heard about 216 but now I hear there are really only 22?
> true/false?
>..

There is no "websafe" palette, as you never know the client settings.
I think the whole idea of something fixed and safe appeals to designers who
worked for print, and popular Mac programs have this "web colors" export.
The truth is, you can control the Netscape image dithering on 256 color (but
also 16 Bit) displays by reducing/ converting to a certain palette
(hexadecimal combinations of 00, 33, 66, 99, CC, FF). Since these colors are
not exactly what you need, it will make for a larger palette. It can make a
big difference if the same image uses 4 bit (16 colors) or 8 (256) per
pixel. Dithering photos will give less than perfect results on high or
true-color displays. And you wouldn't use JPEGs. I suggest to test your site
in 256 colors (and 16 if you like) and make sure everything is readable.

For a color converter tool see
http://www.hitnet.rwth-aachen.de/~lenssen/basic/vbasic.htm#webcol
Pressing on the Netscape button will convert the current color to the
closest Netscape 256 palette color. Pressing on the Windows icon will
convert to the 16 Windows default colors.

--
Philipp Lenssen
M+R infosysteme
http://www.mplusr.de





 
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