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Hex Code Explained

The color chart at left displays an octothorp (sometimes called the pound key or number sign) # followed by 3 pairs of hexadecimal digits. The fiirst pair = reds, the second pair = greens, and the last pair = blues. Using Hex values from 0 (#00) to 256 (#FF) in each pair, there are over 16 million possible color choices. (256 x 256 x 256 = 16,777,216). That's a lot of colors

Not all computers are capable of displaying 16 million Truecolors. Color depth can range from 32-bit, 24-bit (16 million/Truecolors), 16-bit (65,536 colors), 8-bit (256 colors), 4-bit (16 colors) and black and white.

32-bit color can be misleading. A common misconception is that 32-bit color produces 4,294,967,296 distinct colors. In reality, 32-bit color actually refers to 24-bit color (Truecolor) with an additional 8 bits used either as empty padding space or to represent an alpha channel.

Web Safe Colors

Several years ago, the color standard for the web was set at 256 colors to provide for the widest number of internet users at the time. Of these, about 40 colors are reserved by the various operating systems or are not rendered by browsers. That leaves 216 colors which form the web safe color palette.

Arguably, some web designers feel that web safe color limits are outdated now because most people use computers that support 24 bit (Truecolor) depth. But if you know that some or all of your target audience isn't using 24 bit color - as in the case of older displays or hand held devices, then you may wish to limit your color choices to the web safe pallette.

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