Background Text Hyperlink
Visited link Active link

RGB to Hex megaConverter #20
INFORMATION PAGE

Introduction and Overview
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The RGB (Red, Green, Blue) to Hex (Hexadecimal) megaConverter is designed to help Web page creators decide and/or figure out color combinations that work well on screen. (It's fun to play with even if you're sure you'll never create one single Web page in your entire life.) Once you've selected a color for your Web page's background, foreground text, hyperlinks, visited links and active links, you can easily see what these common page elements will look like together. Experiment! (Sorry, Internet Explorer 3.0 users won't see the RGB screen colors change but the conversion from RGB to Hex will still be accurate and useful. We recommend that you consider getting Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later.)

A computer monitor displays colors using the RGB model, but to use those colors on your Web pages you need to know the Hexadecimal value of the RGB color. If you already know the RGB or Hex value of a color, you can enter it directly and immediately find out the corresponding equivalent value. RGB colors range from 0 to 255 so the Hex value of an RGB color will range from #000000 to #FFFFFF. This Hex number is what you'll need to place in your HTML document(s). Once the color value has been converted to Hex, it's ready to be copied and pasted into any Text or HTML editor.

Note: For aesthetic reasons, we recommend that you run your computer in at least 16bit (65,536 colors) or PREFERABLY 24bit (16,777,216 colors) color mode. The Web just looks better in more colors.

Many computers are capable of at least 16bit color, but they may not be currently set up to display 65,000 or more colors. All you need is a 1MB video card (or better) to display 16/24bit color at a screen resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. Most newer computers come standard with this capability but aren't always configured to take full advantage of it.

For Win95/NT users: To check your current settings and set your computer up to display 16/24bit color:

1. Right click on a blank area of the desktop. (Right click means click the right hand mouse button. Blank means that there are no icons, taskbar or shortcut bars, and no open program or application windows in the way. A background image or fancy wallpaper pattern still counts as blank.)
2. Click on Properties, then click the Settings tab in the resulting Display Properties window.
3. The only two things that you need to be concerned with here are the Color palette and the Desktop area.
4. Check, and if necessary, set Color palette to 16bit (sometimes referred to as High Color or 65,000 colors) or PREFERABLY 24bit (a.k.a. True Color or 16,000,000 colors).
5. I suggest you leave your Desktop area (screen resolution) as it is unless you know what you are doing. If your Desktop area is set at or above 800 by 600, you may not be able to select a higher Color palette. Try a lower Desktop area setting if you'd like to view all your documents in richer color.

Note about this Note: This information is not meant to be a tutorial on Windows95/NT monitor and video display settings. There is plenty of on-line help and published documentation about this subject.

* Much of our written history still refers to things in common units. The Bible does not refer to meters or kilograms, but to cubits and stadia, or shekels and drachma. Wouldn't it be nice to know what they were talking about way back then? Now you can use megaConverter! For a more complete listing of ancient, foreign, and obsolete measures, download our 'megaSpreadsheet' of conversions in MS Excel format.

Glossary of Conversions:

Background
The background color of your HTML page. In most cases you can think of it as the 'paper' or 'screen' color of your web page. For 'readability', make sure that there is plenty of contrast between background and text color but that it doesn't clash with your text.

Text
The text color is also known as the page's foreground color. Any text that is not a link and doesn't have a specific color applied to it will appear in this color. Remember, people have to be able to read your page if you expect them to get your message.

Hyperlink
A hyperlink is really just a shortcut to some other 'place' on the Web. That place could be just a few paragraphs down the page or all the way across the world to another Web page. Web browsers need some way of displaying the difference between normal (unlinked) text and text that links to somewhere else. Most browsers use the hyperlink color you define and also underline the linked text to make it stand out.

Visited link
The color you specify for visited link will appear on any hyperlinked text that has already been clicked on at least once. In other words, pick a color for visited link that you want previously used hyperlinked text to appear in.

Active link
Active link color is the color hyperlinked text turns when the user clicks on it. The active link color is often overlooked or under utilized. One of the pros favorite tricks is to set the active link color to the exact same color as the background. When a user clicks on the linked text, it seems to disappear and really 'feels' more like a button. megaConverter RGB To Hex #20 uses this setup by default. Try it with any background color you like, it always looks good. (Sorry again, Internet Explorer 3.0 users won't see the RGB screen colors change but the conversion from RGB to Hex will still be accurate and useful. We recommend that you consider getting Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later.)