Part 3: Using Hexadecimal to Express Color

All colors are mixtures of the three primary colors: red, green, and blue. A hexadecimal color code uses a six digit number. The first two digits are the value for red, the next two for green, and the last two for blue. This is called the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color model.

Example:

Hex Code "808080"= Red 80, Green 80, Blue 80

80	80	80		808080
Red	Green	Blue	=	Gray

This is a mixture of equal amounts of the three colors. The result is a medium gray.

Each value uses two hexadecimal digits, giving you 256 possibilities for each color. Since there are three colors, the total number of possible colors is 256 X 256 X 256 = over 16 million.

Black

If all values are set to 0, the screen will be black:

Black

Hex Code: 00 00 00

White

If they are set to the maximum (hex FF, decimal 255), the screen will be white.

White

Hex Code: FF FF FF

Gray

The screen is gray when all three colors are at the same value, somewhere between minimum (black) and maximum (white).

Dark Gray	Hex Code: 20 20 20
Medium Gray	Hex Code: 50 50 50
Light Gray	Hex Code: B0 B0 B0

Primary colors

To produce pure colors, leave two colors at 0, and set a value for the third color (the desired color).

Red	Hex Code: FF 00 00
Green	Hex Code: 00 FF 00
Blue	Hex Code: 00 00 FF

Mixing Colors

Set values for two or three of the colors to obtain colors that are a mixture of the primary colors.

Yellow	Hex Code: F0 F0 00 (Red + Green)
Purple	Hex Code: 60 00 60 (Dark Red + Dark Blue)
Orange	Hex Code: FF 70 00 (Red + Medium Green)
Brown	Hex Code: 90 50 30 (Red, Green, and a little Blue)

Use the automatic color mixer to experiment.

Continue on to the Quiz

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