Why can odd names be given to HTML colors?

Question

For example, I was just playing around and doing friend names (for example. <*font color=rachel*> turned into a baby blue) Why does this happen? I'm fairly new to HTML and thinking about taking classes on web design in my high school next year (and I play around on Myspace =])

Answer 1

Color attributes in HTML behave a little strange!

There are normally three ways that you set a color attribute. (ignoring style sheets, which are the "modern" way of doing it.) The option most people use is called "hex", short for hexadecimal. There are three "color" settings -- in order, red, green, and blue. You use hex to set the value of each color, from 0 to 255.

So what's hex and what's it got to do with your problem? Well, computers work in "binary" and hex is a number system that works well with binary. The way humans count nowadays is "decimal" -- base 10. There are 10 numbers, 0 through 9. Hex is base 16, so each digit can be between 0 and 15 (inclusive).

The problem is, we ran out of numbers.

So hex goes from 0 to 15, and numbers > 9 are letters instead. So 8 in decimal is 8 in hex. 9 in decimal is 9 in hex. But 10 in decimal is A in hex. (see, this is where we ran out.) And 11 in decimal is B in hex... and so on, up to 15 in decimal is F in hex.

Bored yet? Don't worry, almost done.

What happens with these weird colors you're seeing is that your browser sees letters and thinks they're hex! When you're setting a color in the color attribute, you can only use 6 digits, two per color. So anything after the 6th letter is cut off. (try removing the L at the end of Rachael to see what happens. See? No change.) Now, remember how hex uses letters from A-F? Any letter besides those 6 is ignored -- the browser decides it's zero. So replace the R and the H in Rachael with zeroes. This leaves you with:

color="0ac0ea"

Break this down: RRGGBB (r=red, g=green, b=blue)
Red: 0A
Green: C0
Blue: EA

I'm sure you can figure out that higher numbers are lighter colors, but if you do the math, this ends up being
Red: 10
Green: 192
Blue: 234

Figure out the color, and you have yourself a light blue.

Answer 2

Different browsers interpret the color attribute of the font tag in html differently. Browsers used most frequently use an algorithm to determine a color for every string that could be the color attribute. However, other browsers use black or white for unrecognized colors. Don't rely on these unusual color names when making a website, because the result is unpredictable and may be an unreadable website. Even names such as light blue, purple, pink, and other common colors should not be used, because some browsers may interpret them in a strange way. Stick with the hexidecimal representation of a color to play it safe, i.e., #000000 - #FFFFFF.

Answer 3

Html uses hexadecimal (often called hex) colors. This means there is a color combination of six digits. the first two digits display how much red is in the color, the second two digits display how much green is in the color, and the third two digits display how much blue is in the color. so if you put in a word, it will only read the numbers and letters it can understand, forming a certain color.
(and the amounts are based on percents)

0% = 00
20% = 33
40% = 66
60% = 99
80% = cc
100% = ff

Answer 4

Some browsers will display some colors other the the specifics. It all has to do with the developers and programs. Do not EVER depend on them. I always reccomend sticking to the #xxyyzz format whoch is supported by all browsers.

Answer 5

in case you don't be attentive to the respond, you ought to no longer be breeding. of course you probably did no study into genetics and coat colorations, that is no longer something in need of risky in case you finally end up breeding intense white rats. you ought to finally end up with an entire clutter of megacolon infants that must be positioned to sleep. Please don't be a outdoor breeder and upload to the rat overpopulation with poorly bred rats.

Answer 6

I have no clue but here is a couple of websites that can be of some help to you

HTML color chart:

http://www.immigration-usa.com/html_colors.html


Test your HTML Code:

http://www.play-hookey.com/htmltest/