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Originally, HTML didn't support any kind of colours at all. Netscape introduced HTML attributes for colouring things, and it passed the colour names straight t

Originally, HTML didn't support any kind of colours at all. Netscape introduced HTML attributes for colouring things, and it passed the colour names straight through to X11. Because X11 shipped with a suite of pre-defined colour names, Netscape supported those pre-defined colour names. Because X11 supported custom colours in #RGB, #RRGGBB and #RRRRGGGGBBBB syntax, Netscape supported those too. Meanwhile, Microsoft wanted in on the browser game, but a lot of people still used Windows on machines with 16-colour VGA rather than high-end workstations with true-colour displays, so Internet Explorer couldn't offer the hundreds of named colours Netscape could. Instead, it provided names for the standard Windows 16 colour palette: black, maroon, green, olive, navy, purple, teal, silver, gray, red, lime, yellow, blue, fuchsia, aqua, white.

resoluteteeth 7y ago
> Netscape introduced HTML attributes for colouring things, and it passed the colour names straight through to X11. Because X11 shipped with a suite of pre-defined colour names, Netscape supported those pre-defined colour names. Because X11 supported custom colours in #RGB, #RRGGBB and #RRRRGGGGBBBB syntax, Netscape supported those too. Thank you. This is much clearer than the article.
alanbernstein 7y ago
Thanks, I didn't quite follow the explanation in the article, but I'm still confused. When was the decision made to use "dark gray" for something brighter than 50% gray? Why? By whom?
- jccooper 7y ago
  The real problem is the web color uses the same name, but not the same color. X11 'gray' is rather light (#BEBEBE / 75%), where the W3C 'gray' is significantly darker (#808080 / 50%). (X11 also had a 'web gray' that matched this!) The X11 'dark gray' at 66% (rather like the W3C 'silver') thus made sense in its color set, though not when imported into a different set. You might say, "this means X11 only had very light grays", and from a named perspective this seems to be true. I'm not certain if this is due to UI fashion or a physical artefact of the monitors. But in any case, if you wanted darker shades in X11, you could use 'grayNN', from grey0 (black) on up to grey100 (white).
  - alanbernstein 7y ago
    Ah, thanks, now I get it. Also not sure about the reason for the x11 naming, but I can imagine the gamma curve influencing the choices for those values.
- resoluteteeth 7y ago
  X11 started using dark gray to mean 66% gray at some point in the 80s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/72919/what-are-the-origins-of-rgb-txt https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/72919/what-are-the-...

resoluteteeth 7y ago

> Netscape introduced HTML attributes for colouring things, and it passed the colour names straight through to X11. Because X11 shipped with a suite of pre-defined colour names, Netscape supported those pre-defined colour names. Because X11 supported custom colours in #RGB, #RRGGBB and #RRRRGGGGBBBB syntax, Netscape supported those too. Thank you. This is much clearer than the article.

alanbernstein 7y ago

Thanks, I didn't quite follow the explanation in the article, but I'm still confused. When was the decision made to use "dark gray" for something brighter than 50% gray? Why? By whom?

jccooper 7y ago
The real problem is the web color uses the same name, but not the same color. X11 'gray' is rather light (#BEBEBE / 75%), where the W3C 'gray' is significantly darker (#808080 / 50%). (X11 also had a 'web gray' that matched this!) The X11 'dark gray' at 66% (rather like the W3C 'silver') thus made sense in its color set, though not when imported into a different set. You might say, "this means X11 only had very light grays", and from a named perspective this seems to be true. I'm not certain if this is due to UI fashion or a physical artefact of the monitors. But in any case, if you wanted darker shades in X11, you could use 'grayNN', from grey0 (black) on up to grey100 (white).
- alanbernstein 7y ago
  Ah, thanks, now I get it. Also not sure about the reason for the x11 naming, but I can imagine the gamma curve influencing the choices for those values.
resoluteteeth 7y ago
X11 started using dark gray to mean 66% gray at some point in the 80s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/72919/what-are-the-origins-of-rgb-txt https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/72919/what-are-the-...