Hexadecimal Code and the Physics of Color

red - ff0000	Blue - 0000ff
Green - 00ff00	Black - 000000 (font color - ffffff)
Now purple - ff00ff	orange-y? - ff9900

The table above demonstrates how the physics of color-mixing is contained within the hexadecimal code used by computers to render colors on the monitor.

There are six places in the hex color code. The first two represent the intensity of red, the middle two hold place for green, and the last two digits represent blue in the "mixture".

Notice that "F" represents the highest value of each place, "0" represents the complete absence of that color. Therefore black--the absence of all color--is 000000. FFFFFF is the presence of all color, white.

F is the highest number since hex uses base-16, and we use the characters A, B, C, D, E, and F to represent the extra digits. "FF" is therefore a stonger intensity than "A4", which in turn is stronger than "37".

In the table below, I will experiment with different combinations of just red and green, leaving blue at 00. Notice that "Yellow" is high intensity of red and green!

ffff00

a1a100

ff6600

aaff00

a06000

608f00

Here are a few more cells, this time mixing in blue:

00ffff

ff6633

aa66aa

a1a1a1

60a0b0

You can see how changing the values in each place in the code number changes the color displayed. In the HTML source for this page, note that the hex number is preceded by a # sign, and the entire thing is surrounded by "quotes".

This paragraph has the normal background colour.

Now we're back to normal.

Visit HTML Goodies for a long list of non-dithering hex color codes.

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