Copyright © 2002 W3C® (MIT, INRIA, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark, document use and software licensing rules apply.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a language for describing the rendering of HTML and XML documents on screen, on paper, in speech, etc. To color elements in a document, it uses color related properties and respective values. This draft describes the properties and values that are proposed for CSS level 3. It includes and extends them from properties and values of CSS level 2.
This document is a draft of one of the "modules" for the upcoming CSS3 specification. It not only describes the color related properties and values that already exist in CSS1 and CSS2, but also proposes new properties and values for CSS3 as well. The Working Group doesn't expect that all implementations of CSS3 will implement all properties or values. Instead, there will probably be a small number of variants of CSS3, so-called "profiles". For example, it may be that only the profile for 32-bit color user agents will include all of the proposed color related properties and values.
The current draft is the result of the merging of relevant parts of the following Recommendations and Working Drafts, and the addition of some new features.
This document is a working draft of the CSS working group which is part of the style activity (see summary). This is a W3C Last Call Working Draft. Last call means that the working group believes that this specification is ready and therefore wishes this to be the last call for comments. If the feedback is positive, the working group plans to submit it for consideration as a W3C Candidate Recommendation. Comments can be sent until the 17th of May, 2002.
Comments on, and discussions of this draft can be sent to the (archived) public mailing list www-style@w3.org (see instructions). W3C Members can also send comments directly to the CSS working group.
To find the latest version of this working draft, please follow the "Latest version" link above, or visit the list of W3C Technical Reports.
CSS3 is a set of modules, divided up and profiled in order to simplify the specification, and to allow implementors the flexibility of supporting the particular modules appropriate for their implementations.
This module describes CSS properties which allow authors to specify the foreground color and opacity of an element. Additional properties allow specification of the ICC color profile and rendering intent of image content. This module also describes in detail the CSS <color> value type.
This CSS3 module depends on the following other CSS3 modules:
The following CSS3 modules depend on this CSS3 module:
Name: | color |
Value: | <color> | inherit | attr(X,color) |
Initial: | depends on user agent |
Applies to: | all elements |
Inherited: | yes |
Percentages: | N/A |
Media: | visual |
Computed value: | The computed value for HTML4 keywords, RGB hex values and X11 keywords is the equivalent six digit hex value. The computed value of the keyword 'transparent' is rgba(0,0,0,0). If the color is specified using the attr() syntax then the computed value is the result of evaluating the attribute's value as a <color>. For all other values, the computed value is the specified value. |
This property describes the foreground color of an element's text content. There are different ways to specify red:
em { color: red } /* predefined color name */ em { color: rgb(255,0,0) } /* RGB range 0-255 */
For information about gamma issues, please consult the Gamma Tutorial in the PNG specification ([PNG1.0]).
In the computation of gamma correction, UAs displaying on a CRT may assume an ideal CRT and ignore any effects on apparent gamma caused by dithering. That means the minimal handling they need to do on current platforms is:
"Applying gamma" means that each of the three R, G and B must be converted to R'=Rgamma, G'=Ggamma, B'=Bgamma, before being handed to the OS.
This may rapidly be done by building a 256-element lookup table once per browser invocation thus:
for i := 0 to 255 do raw := i / 255.0; corr := pow (raw, gamma); table[i] := trunc (0.5 + corr * 255.0) end
which then avoids any need to do transcendental math per color attribute, far less per pixel.
Opacity can be thought of conceptually as a postprocessing operation. Conceptually, after the element is rendered into an RGBA offscreen image, the opacity setting specifies how to blend the offscreen rendering into the current composite rendering.
Name: | opacity |
Value: | <alphavalue> <priority-index>? | inherit |
Initial: | 1 none |
Applies to: | all elements |
Inherited: | no |
Percentages: | N/A |
Media: | visual |
Computed value: | The same as the specified value after clipping the <alphavalue> to the range [0.0,1.0]. |
The opacity property is applied across an entire element including its outline, border, background and text-decoration if any. If the element is a container element, then the effect is as if the contents of the element were blended against the current rendering composite using a mask where the value of each pixel of the mask is <alphavalue>.
Name: | color-profile |
Value: | auto | sRGB | <name> | <uri> | inherit |
Initial: | auto |
Applies to: | all elements |
Inherited: | yes |
Percentages: | N/A |
Media: | visual |
Computed value: | specified value |
This property permits the specification of a source color profile other than the default.
/* use the specified profile, even if the image contains an embedded profile */ IMG { color-profile: url("http://example.com/profiles/eg.icm") }
Name: | rendering-intent |
Value: | auto | perceptual | relative-colorimetric | saturation | absolute-colorimetric | inherit |
Initial: | auto |
Applies to: | all elements |
Inherited: | yes |
Percentages: | N/A |
Media: | visual |
Computed value: | specified value |
This property permits the specification of a color profile rendering intent other than the default. The behavior of values other than auto and inherit are defined by the International Color Consortium standard [ICC3.2].
SVG 1.0 introduced the @color-profile at-rule as a method for grouping the color-profile and rendering-intent properties.
The @color-profile rule can be used to specify a color profile description. The general form is:
@color-profile { <color-profile-description> }
where the <color-profile-description> has the form:
descriptor: value; [...] descriptor: value;
Each @color-profile rule specifies a value for every color profile descriptor, either implicitly or explicitly. Those not given explicit values in the rule take the initial value listed with each descriptor in this specification. These descriptors apply solely within the context of the @color-profile rule in which they are defined, and do not apply to document language elements. Thus, there is no notion of which elements the descriptors apply to, or whether the values are inherited by child elements.
The following are the descriptors for a <color-profile-description>:
Values: | <name> |
Initial: | undefined |
Media: | visual |
Values: | sRGB | <local-profile> | <uri> | (<local-profile> <uri>) |
Initial: | sRGB |
Media: | visual |
"local(" + <string> + ")"where <string> is the profile's unique ID as specified by International Color Consortium. (Note: Profile description fields do not represent a profile's unique ID. With current ICC proposals, the profile's unique ID is an MD5-encoded value within the profile header.)
Values: | auto | perceptual | relative-colorimetric | saturation | absolute-colorimetric |
Initial: | auto |
Media: | visual |
See the description of the 'rendering-intent' property.
A <color> is either a keyword or a numerical specification.
The list of HTML4 keyword color names is: aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow. The color names are case-insensitive.
Black = #000000 | Green = #008000 | ||
Silver = #C0C0C0 | Lime = #00FF00 | ||
Gray = #808080 | Olive = #808000 | ||
White = #FFFFFF | Yellow = #FFFF00 | ||
Maroon = #800000 | Navy = #000080 | ||
Red = #FF0000 | Blue = #0000FF | ||
Purple = #800080 | Teal = #008080 | ||
Fuchsia = #FF00FF | Aqua = #00FFFF |
body {color: black; background: white } h1 { color: maroon } h2 { color: olive }
The RGB color model is used in numerical color specifications. These examples all specify the same color:
em { color: #f00 } /* #rgb */ em { color: #ff0000 } /* #rrggbb */ em { color: rgb(255,0,0) } /* integer range 0 - 255 */ em { color: rgb(100%, 0%, 0%) } /* float range 0.0% - 100.0% */
The format of an RGB value in hexadecimal notation is a '#' immediately followed by either three or six hexadecimal characters. The three-digit RGB notation (#rgb) is converted into six-digit form (#rrggbb) by replicating digits, not by adding zeros. For example, #fb0 expands to #ffbb00. This ensures that white (#ffffff) can be specified with the short notation (#fff) and removes any dependencies on the color depth of the display.
The format of an RGB value in the functional notation is 'rgb(' followed by a comma-separated list of three numerical values (either three integer values or three percentage values) followed by ')'. The integer value 255 corresponds to 100%, and to F or FF in the hexadecimal notation: rgb(255,255,255) = rgb(100%,100%,100%) = #FFF. Whitespace characters are allowed around the numerical values.
All RGB colors are specified in the sRGB color space (see [SRGB]). User agents may vary in the fidelity with which they represent these colors, but using sRGB provides an unambiguous and objectively measurable definition of what the color should be, which can be related to international standards (see [COLORIMETRY]).
Values outside the device gamut should be clipped: the red, green, and blue values must be changed to fall within the range supported by the device. For a typical CRT monitor, whose device gamut is the same as sRGB, the three rules below are equivalent:
em { color: rgb(255,0,0) } /* integer range 0 - 255 */ em { color: rgb(300,0,0) } /* clipped to rgb(255,0,0) */ em { color: rgb(255,-10,0) } /* clipped to rgb(255,0,0) */ em { color: rgb(110%, 0%, 0%) } /* clipped to rgb(100%,0%,0%) */
Other devices, such as printers, have different gamuts to sRGB; some colors outside the 0..255 sRGB range will be representable (inside the device gamut), while other colors inside the 0..255 sRGB range will be outside the device gamut and will thus be clipped.
The RGB color model is extended in this specification to include 'alpha' to allow specification of the opacity of a color. These examples all specify the same color:
em { color: rgb(255,0,0) } /* integer range 0 - 255 */ em { color: rgba(255,0,0,1) /* the same, with explicit opacity of 1 */ em { color: rgb(100%,0%,0%) } /* float range 0.0% - 100.0% */ em { color: rgba(100%,0%,0%,1) } /* the same, with explicit opacity of 1 */
Unlike RGB values, there is no hexadecimal notation for an RGBA value.
The format of an RGBA value in the functional notation is 'rgba(' followed by a comma-separated list of three numerical values (either three integer values or three percentage values), followed by an <alphavalue>, followed by ')'. The integer value 255 corresponds to 100%, rgb(255,255,255,0.8) = rgb(100%,100%,100%,0.8). Whitespace characters are allowed around the numerical values.
These examples specify new effects that are now possible with the new rgba() notation:
p { color: rgba(0,0,255,0.5) } /* semi-transparent solid blue */ p { color: rgba(100%, 50%, 0%, 0.1) } /* very transparent solid orange */
Note. If RGBA values are not supported by a user agent, they should be treated like unrecognized values per the CSS forward compatibility parsing rules. RGBA values must NOT be treated as simply an RGB value with the opacity ignored.
CSS1 introduced the 'transparent' value for the background-color property. CSS2 allowed border-color to also accept the 'transparent' value. The Open eBook(tm) Publication Structure 1.0.1 [OEB] extended the 'color' property to also accept the 'transparent' keyword. CSS3 extends the color value to include the 'transparent' keyword to allow its use with all properties that accept a <color> value. This simplifies the definition of those properties in CSS3.
CSS3 adds numerical Hue Saturation Lightness (HSL) colors as a complement to numerical RGB colors. It has been observed that RGB colors have the following limitations:
There are several other color schemes possible. Advantages of HSL are: it is symmetrical to lightness and darkness (which is not the case with HSV for example), and it is trivial to convert HSL to RGB.
HSL colors are encoding as a triple (Hue, Saturation, Lightness). Hue is represented as an angle of the color circle (i.e. the rainbow represented in a circle). By definition Red=0=360, and the other colors are spread around the circle, so Green=120, Blue=240, etc. Saturation and Lightness are represented as percentages. 100% is full saturation, and 0% is a shade of grey. 0% lightness is black, 100% lightness is white, and 50% lightness is 'normal'
So for instance:
* { color: hsl(0, 100%, 50%) } /* red */ * { color: hsl(120, 100%, 50%) } /* green */ * { color: hsl(120, 100%, 25%) } /* light green */ * { color: hsl(120, 100%, 75%) } /* dark green */ * { color: hsl(120, 50%, 50%) } /* pastel green, and so on */
The advantage of HSL over RGB is that it is far more intuitive: you can guess at the colors you want, and then tweak. It is also easier to create sets of matching colors (by keeping the hue the same and varying the lightness/darkness, and saturation)
The algorithm to translate HSL to RGB is simple (here expressed in ABC which was used to generate the tables.) In these algorithms, all three values (H, S and L) have been normalized to fractions 0..1:
HOW TO RETURN hsl.to.rgb(h, s, l): SELECT: l<=0.5: PUT l*(s+1) IN m2 ELSE: PUT l+s-l*s IN m2 PUT l*2-m2 IN m1 PUT hue.to.rgb(m1, m2, h+1/3) IN r PUT hue.to.rgb(m1, m2, h ) IN g PUT hue.to.rgb(m1, m2, h-1/3) IN b RETURN (r, g, b) HOW TO RETURN hue.to.rgb(m1, m2, h): IF h<1: PUT h+1 IN h IF h>1: PUT h-1 IN h IF h*6<1: RETURN m1+(m2-m1)*h*6 IF h*2<1: RETURN m2 IF h*3<2: RETURN m1+(m2-m1)*(2/3-h)*6 RETURN m1
Each table below represents one hue. Twelve equally spaced colors (i.e. at 30¡ intervals) have been chosen from the color circle: red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, with all the intermediate colors (the last is the color between magenta and red).
The X axis of each table represents the saturation (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, 0%).
The Y axis represents the lightness. 50% is 'normal'.
0¡ Red | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
30¡ Red-Yellow (=Orange) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
60¡ Yellow | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
90¡ Yellow-Green | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
120¡ Green | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
150¡ Green-Cyan | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
180¡ Cyan | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
210¡ Cyan-Blue | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
240¡ Blue | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
270¡ Blue-Magenta | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
300¡ Magenta | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
330¡ Magenta-Red | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saturation | |||||
100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | |
100 | |||||
88 | |||||
75 | |||||
63 | |||||
50 | |||||
38 | |||||
25 | |||||
13 | |||||
0 |
Just as the 'rgb()' functional notation has the 'rgba()' alpha counterpart, the 'hsl()' functional notation has the 'hsla()' alpha counterpart. These examples specify the same color:
em { color: hsl(120, 100%, 50%) } /* green */ em { color: hsla(120, 100%, 50%, 1) } /* the same, with explicit opacity of 1 */
The format of an HSLA color value in the functional notation is 'hsla(' followed by the hue in degrees, saturation and lightness as a percentage, and an <alphavalue>, followed by ')'. Whitespace characters are allowed around the numerical values.
These examples specify new effects that are now possible with the new hsla() notation:
p { color: hsla(240, 100%, 50%, 0.5) } /* semi-transparent solid blue */ p { color: rgba(30, 100%, 50%, 0.1) } /* very transparent solid orange */
The table below provides a list of the X11 colors [X11COLORS] supported by popular browsers. The two color swatches on the left illustrate setting the background color of a table cell in two ways: The first column uses the named color value, and the second column uses the numeric color value, which should be the same.
Named | Numeric | Color Name | Hex RGB | Decimal |
AliceBlue | #F0F8FF | 240,248,255 | ||
AntiqueWhite | #FAEBD7 | 250,235,215 | ||
Aqua | #00FFFF | 0,255,255 | ||
Aquamarine | #7FFFD4 | 127,255,212 | ||
Azure | #F0FFFF | 240,255,255 | ||
Beige | #F5F5DC | 245,245,220 | ||
Bisque | #FFE4C4 | 255,228,196 | ||
Black | #000000 | 0,0,0 | ||
BlanchedAlmond | #FFEBCD | 255,235,205 | ||
Blue | #0000FF | 0,0,255 | ||
BlueViolet | #8A2BE2 | 138,43,226 | ||
Brown | #A52A2A | 165,42,42 | ||
BurlyWood | #DEB887 | 222,184,135 | ||
CadetBlue | #5F9EA0 | 95,158,160 | ||
Chartreuse | #7FFF00 | 127,255,0 | ||
Chocolate | #D2691E | 210,105,30 | ||
Coral | #FF7F50 | 255,127,80 | ||
CornflowerBlue | #6495ED | 100,149,237 | ||
Cornsilk | #FFF8DC | 255,248,220 | ||
Crimson | #DC143C | 220,20,60 | ||
Cyan | #00FFFF | 0,255,255 | ||
DarkBlue | #00008B | 0,0,139 | ||
DarkCyan | #008B8B | 0,139,139 | ||
DarkGoldenrod | #B8860B | 184,134,11 | ||
DarkGray | #A9A9A9 | 169,169,169 | ||
DarkGreen | #006400 | 0,100,0 | ||
DarkKhaki | #BDB76B | 189,183,107 | ||
DarkMagenta | #8B008B | 139,0,139 | ||
DarkOliveGreen | #556B2F | 85,107,47 | ||
DarkOrange | #FF8C00 | 255,140,0 | ||
DarkOrchid | #9932CC | 153,50,204 | ||
DarkRed | #8B0000 | 139,0,0 | ||
DarkSalmon | #E9967A | 233,150,122 | ||
DarkSeaGreen | #8FBC8F | 143,188,143 | ||
DarkSlateBlue | #483D8B | 72,61,139 | ||
DarkSlateGray | #2F4F4F | 47,79,79 | ||
DarkTurquoise | #00CED1 | 0,206,209 | ||
DarkViolet | #9400D3 | 148,0,211 | ||
DeepPink | #FF1493 | 255,20,147 | ||
DeepSkyBlue | #00BFFF | 0,191,255 | ||
DimGray | #696969 | 105,105,105 | ||
DodgerBlue | #1E90FF | 30,144,255 | ||
FireBrick | #B22222 | 178,34,34 | ||
FloralWhite | #FFFAF0 | 255,250,240 | ||
ForestGreen | #228B22 | 34,139,34 | ||
Fuchsia | #FF00FF | 255,0,255 | ||
Gainsboro | #DCDCDC | 220,220,220 | ||
GhostWhite | #F8F8FF | 248,248,255 | ||
Gold | #FFD700 | 255,215,0 | ||
Goldenrod | #DAA520 | 218,165,32 | ||
Gray | #808080 | 128,128,128 | ||
Green | #008000 | 0,128,0 | ||
GreenYellow | #ADFF2F | 173,255,47 | ||
Honeydew | #F0FFF0 | 240,255,240 | ||
HotPink | #FF69B4 | 255,105,180 | ||
IndianRed | #CD5C5C | 205,92,92 | ||
Indigo | #4B0082 | 75,0,130 | ||
Ivory | #FFFFF0 | 255,255,240 | ||
Khaki | #F0E68C | 240,230,140 | ||
Lavender | #E6E6FA | 230,230,250 | ||
LavenderBlush | #FFF0F5 | 255,240,245 | ||
LawnGreen | #7CFC00 | 124,252,0 | ||
LemonChiffon | #FFFACD | 255,250,205 | ||
LightBlue | #ADD8E6 | 173,216,230 | ||
LightCoral | #F08080 | 240,128,128 | ||
LightCyan | #E0FFFF | 224,255,255 | ||
LightGoldenrodYellow | #FAFAD2 | 250,250,210 | ||
LightGreen | #90EE90 | 144,238,144 | ||
LightGrey | #D3D3D3 | 211,211,211 | ||
LightPink | #FFB6C1 | 255,182,193 | ||
LightSalmon | #FFA07A | 255,160,122 | ||
LightSeaGreen | #20B2AA | 32,178,170 | ||
LightSkyBlue | #87CEFA | 135,206,250 | ||
LightSlateGray | #778899 | 119,136,153 | ||
LightSteelBlue | #B0C4DE | 176,196,222 | ||
LightYellow | #FFFFE0 | 255,255,224 | ||
Lime | #00FF00 | 0,255,0 | ||
LimeGreen | #32CD32 | 50,205,50 | ||
Linen | #FAF0E6 | 250,240,230 | ||
Magenta | #FF00FF | 255,0,255 | ||
Maroon | #800000 | 128,0,0 | ||
MediumAquamarine | #66CDAA | 102,205,170 | ||
MediumBlue | #0000CD | 0,0,205 | ||
MediumOrchid | #BA55D3 | 186,85,211 | ||
MediumPurple | #9370DB | 147,112,219 | ||
MediumSeaGreen | #3CB371 | 60,179,113 | ||
MediumSlateBlue | #7B68EE | 123,104,238 | ||
MediumSpringGreen | #00FA9A | 0,250,154 | ||
MediumTurquoise | #48D1CC | 72,209,204 | ||
MediumVioletRed | #C71585 | 199,21,133 | ||
MidnightBlue | #191970 | 25,25,112 | ||
MintCream | #F5FFFA | 245,255,250 | ||
MistyRose | #FFE4E1 | 255,228,225 | ||
Moccasin | #FFE4B5 | 255,228,181 | ||
NavajoWhite | #FFDEAD | 255,222,173 | ||
Navy | #000080 | 0,0,128 | ||
OldLace | #FDF5E6 | 253,245,230 | ||
Olive | #808000 | 128,128,0 | ||
OliveDrab | #6B8E23 | 107,142,35 | ||
Orange | #FFA500 | 255,165,0 | ||
OrangeRed | #FF4500 | 255,69,0 | ||
Orchid | #DA70D6 | 218,112,214 | ||
PaleGoldenrod | #EEE8AA | 238,232,170 | ||
PaleGreen | #98FB98 | 152,251,152 | ||
PaleTurquoise | #AFEEEE | 175,238,238 | ||
PaleVioletRed | #DB7093 | 219,112,147 | ||
PapayaWhip | #FFEFD5 | 255,239,213 | ||
PeachPuff | #FFDAB9 | 255,218,185 | ||
Peru | #CD853F | 205,133,63 | ||
Pink | #FFC0CB | 255,192,203 | ||
Plum | #DDA0DD | 221,160,221 | ||
PowderBlue | #B0E0E6 | 176,224,230 | ||
Purple | #800080 | 128,0,128 | ||
Red | #FF0000 | 255,0,0 | ||
RosyBrown | #BC8F8F | 188,143,143 | ||
RoyalBlue | #4169E1 | 65,105,225 | ||
SaddleBrown | #8B4513 | 139,69,19 | ||
Salmon | #FA8072 | 250,128,114 | ||
SandyBrown | #F4A460 | 244,164,96 | ||
SeaGreen | #2E8B57 | 46,139,87 | ||
Seashell | #FFF5EE | 255,245,238 | ||
Sienna | #A0522D | 160,82,45 | ||
Silver | #C0C0C0 | 192,192,192 | ||
SkyBlue | #87CEEB | 135,206,235 | ||
SlateBlue | #6A5ACD | 106,90,205 | ||
SlateGray | #708090 | 112,128,144 | ||
Snow | #FFFAFA | 255,250,250 | ||
SpringGreen | #00FF7F | 0,255,127 | ||
SteelBlue | #4682B4 | 70,130,180 | ||
Tan | #D2B48C | 210,180,140 | ||
Teal | #008080 | 0,128,128 | ||
Thistle | #D8BFD8 | 216,191,216 | ||
Tomato | #FF6347 | 255,99,71 | ||
Turquoise | #40E0D0 | 64,224,208 | ||
Violet | #EE82EE | 238,130,238 | ||
Wheat | #F5DEB3 | 245,222,179 | ||
White | #FFFFFF | 255,255,255 | ||
WhiteSmoke | #F5F5F5 | 245,245,245 | ||
Yellow | #FFFF00 | 255,255,0 | ||
YellowGreen | #9ACD32 | 154,205,50 |
In addition to being able to assign pre-defined color values to text, backgrounds, etc., CSS3, like CSS2, allows authors to specify colors in a manner that integrates them into the user's graphic environment. Style rules that take into account user preferences thus offer the following advantages:
For systems that do not have a corresponding value, the specified value should be mapped to the nearest system attribute, or to a default color. Note that some profiles of CSS may not support System Colors at all.
The following lists additional values for color-related CSS attributes and their general meaning. Any color property can take one of the following names. Although these are case-insensitive, it is recommended that the mixed capitalization shown below be used, to make the names more legible.
For example, to set the foreground and background colors of a paragraph to the same foreground and background colors of the user's window, write the following:
p { color: WindowText; background-color: Window }
Note. The computed value of a System Color keyword value is the keyword itself. In addition, in future CSS specifications, the color property may accept additional System Color values.
Most desktop user agents allow the user to choose the default colors for hyperlinks to be rendered in their various states. The following system colors permit an author to explicitly style their hyperlinks in accordance with those preferences. The color names are camel-cased in order to be consistent with the CSS2 system colors.
For example, to set all links to their default visited and unvisited colors, write the following:
:link { color: HyperlinkText; background-color: Hyperlink } :visited { color: VisitedHyperlinkText; background-color: VisitedHyperlink }
:focus {outline: 1px solid flavor} /* puts an outline around the currently focused element that color coordinates with the browser accent color if any */
Although colors can add significant amounts of information to document and make them more readable, please consider the following guidelines when including color in your documents:
This appendix is informative, not normative.
body { color: black; background: white; color-profile: sRGB; rendering-intent: auto } /* traditional desktop user agent colors for hyperlinks */ :link { color: blue; } :visited { color: purple; } /* user preferences for hyperlinks */ :link { color: HyperlinkText; background-color: Hyperlink } :visited { color: VisitedHyperlinkText; background-color: VisitedHyperlink } :link:hover,:visited:hover { color: HoverHyperlinkText; background-color: HoverHyperlink } :link:active,:visited:active { color: ActiveHyperlinkText; background-color: ActiveHyperlink } img,object { color-profile: auto; rendering-intent: auto } /* default focus outline */ :focus { outline: 1px dotted gray; outline: 1px solid flavor; }
Each specification using CSS3 Color must define the subset of CSS3 Color features it allows and excludes, and describe the local meaning of all the components of that subset.
Non normative examples:
CSS3 Color profile | |
---|---|
Specification | HTML4 |
Accepts | HTML4 color keywords RGB six digit hex color values |
Excludes |
'color' property |
Extra constraints | none. |
CSS3 Color profile | |
---|---|
Specification | CSS level 1 |
Accepts | 'color' property HTML4 color keywords RGB color values |
Excludes |
'opacity' property |
Extra constraints | none. |
CSS3 Color profile | |
---|---|
Specification | CSS level 2 |
Accepts | 'color' property HTML4 color keywords RGB color values CSS2 UI Colors 'transparent' color value |
Excludes |
'opacity' property |
Extra constraints | 'transparent' color value not valid for 'color' property. |
CSS3 Color profile | |
---|---|
Specification | SVG 1.0 |
Accepts | 'color' property 'opacity' property @color-profile rule HTML4 color keywords RGB color values CSS2 UI Colors |
Excludes |
'color-profile' property |
Extra constraints | none. |
This specification contains a test suite allowing user agents to verify their basic conformance to the specification. This test suite does not pretend to be exhaustive and does not cover all possible numerical color values. These tests are available [link forthcoming].
Thanks to Brad Pettit for both writing up color-profiles, and for implementing it. Thanks to Steven Pemberton for his write up on HSL colors. Thanks to feedback from Marc Attinasi, David Baron, Bert Bos, Ian Hickson, Steve Zilles. And thanks to Chris Lilley for being the resident CSS Color expert.
Property | Values | Initial | Applies to | Inh. | Percentages | Media |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
color | <color> | inherit | attr(X,color) | depends on user agent | all elements | yes | N/A | visual |
color-profile | auto | sRGB | <name> | <uri> | inherit | auto | all elements | yes | N/A | visual |
opacity | <alphavalue> <priority-index>? | inherit | 1 none | all elements | no | N/A | visual |
rendering-intent | auto | perceptual | relative-colorimetric | saturation | absolute-colorimetric | inherit | auto | all elements | yes | N/A | visual |