And back then, using colors other than the ones in the palette
would dither unpredictably. Dithering means that the browser
would attempt to simulate the color it couldn't display by showing
small pixels of the closest colors. If the image used a peach-flesh
tone which the browser could not display, the browser would
dither that using pink, yellow, and orange from the web palette,
creating a speckled effect. These images would, understandably,
look less than polished.
Unfortunately, the 216 palette is, well... ugly. It really
is. The colors it contains are very restricting design-wise.
There was a time when I embraced it wholeheartedly, an HTML
purist who believed that you should always use the 216 color
palette and nothing else. It was also a time when most people
were running Windows 3.1 with Netscape 2.0 and had video cards
that could display 256 colors... or even less than that. Making
non-dithering images was very important.
These days, almost everyone has a display that can show at
least 256 colors. Most new computers can display 16 million
colors. It's hard not to want to take advantage of using some
of them, isn't it? And, the web palette simply doesn't function
well for photographs at all, as the colors in the palette don't
accurately represent the subtleties and shades present in photographic
images. Unless you know your audience is using a limited color
palette, older hardware/software, or you have yet another reason
to use the web palette exclusively, it's safe to use any color
without worrying about dithering.
However, it's still important to consider another aspect of
color on the web -- gamma shifts in color. Gamma involves many
elements, but it can be summarized as the relationships between
light and dark areas on the screen. Images created on Macintoshes
without gamma correction can look very dark on PCs. So, what
do we do? Ultimately, we have to try to create something that's
going to look acceptable on all platforms. Previewing your work
on several computers with different monitors, video cards, browsers,
and operating systems will help you see if the site looks acceptable.
Summary:
* You can safely use colors outside the web palette if your
audience is using modern technology to view your site.
* Consider gamma shifts when choosing and rendering color.
* Preview your work on several computers with different setups
to see if it looks acceptable.
Webmaster's Corner is written biweekly by Jill
Cataldo, Senior Web Developer for NewRamp.com. She has been
working in web development since 1996. Articles are copyright
©2005 NewRamp and may not be reproduced without permission.
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