Colors can be specified in HTML pages in two ways—by using a color name, or by using numbers to denote an RGB color value. An RGB color value consists of three two-digit hexadecimal numbers specifying the intensity of the corresponding color.
For example, the color value #FF0000 is rendered red because the red number is set to its highest value, FF (or 255 in decimal form).
When you use the <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = MSHelp NS = "http://msdn.microsoft.com/mshelp" /> declaration to specify standards-compliant mode, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and later versions ignore style sheet declarations that do not comply with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 1 (CSS1). According to CSS 1, colors specified with hexadecimal RGB values must have a leading '#' character. Values like "FFFFFF" are ignored, not treated the same as "#FFFFFF" (also known as white), as with previous versions of Internet Explorer. This affects all properties that accept a color value.
The following table lists the colors supported as of Internet Explorer 4.0.
aliceblue (#F0F8FF) | antiquewhite (#FAEBD7) | aqua (#00FFFF) | aquamarine (#7FFFD4) |
azure (#F0FFFF) | beige (#F5F5DC) | bisque (#FFE4C4) | black (#000000) |
blanchedalmond (#FFEBCD) | blue (#0000FF) | blueviolet (#8A2BE2) | brown (#A52A2A) |
burlywood (#DEB887) | cadetblue (#5F9EA0) | chartreuse (#7FFF00) | chocolate (#D2691E) |
coral (#FF7F50) | cornflowerblue (#6495ED) | cornsilk (#FFF8DC) | crimson (#DC143C) |
cyan (#00FFFF) | darkblue (#00008B) | darkcyan (#008B8B) | darkgoldenrod (#B8860B) |
darkgray (#A9A9A9) | darkgreen (#006400) | darkkhaki (#BDB76B) | darkmagenta (#8B008B) |
darkolivegreen (#556B2F) | darkorange (#FF8C00) | darkorchid (#9932CC) | darkred (#8B0000) |
darksalmon (#E9967A) | darkseagreen (#8FBC8B) | darkslateblue (#483D8B) | darkslategray (#2F4F4F) |
darkturquoise (#00CED1) | darkviolet (#9400D3) | deeppink (#FF1493) | deepskyblue (#00BFFF) |
dimgray (#696969) | dodgerblue (#1E90FF) | firebrick (#B22222) | floralwhite (#FFFAF0) |
forestgreen (#228B22) | fuchsia (#FF00FF) | gainsboro (#DCDCDC) | ghostwhite (#F8F8FF) |
gold (#FFD700) | goldenrod (#DAA520) | gray (#808080) | green (#008000) |
greenyellow (#ADFF2F) | honeydew (#F0FFF0) | hotpink (#FF69B4) | indianred (#CD5C5C) |
indigo (#4B0082) | ivory (#FFFFF0) | khaki (#F0E68C) | lavender (#E6E6FA) |
lavenderblush (#FFF0F5) | lawngreen (#7CFC00) | lemonchiffon (#FFFACD) | lightblue (#ADD8E6) |
lightcoral (#F08080) | lightcyan (#E0FFFF) | lightgoldenrodyellow (#FAFAD2) | lightgreen (#90EE90) |
lightgrey (#D3D3D3) | lightpink (#FFB6C1) | lightsalmon (#FFA07A) | lightseagreen (#20B2AA) |
lightskyblue (#87CEFA) | lightslategray (#778899) | lightsteelblue (#B0C4DE) | lightyellow (#FFFFE0) |
lime (#00FF00) | limegreen (#32CD32) | linen (#FAF0E6) | magenta (#FF00FF) |
maroon (#800000) | mediumaquamarine (#66CDAA) | mediumblue (#0000CD) | mediumorchid (#BA55D3) |
mediumpurple (#9370DB) | mediumseagreen (#3CB371) | mediumslateblue (#7B68EE) | mediumspringgreen (#00FA9A) |
mediumturquoise (#48D1CC) | mediumvioletred (#C71585) | midnightblue (#191970) | mintcream (#F5FFFA) |
mistyrose (#FFE4E1) | moccasin (#FFE4B5) | navajowhite (#FFDEAD) | navy (#000080) |
oldlace (#FDF5E6) | olive (#808000) | olivedrab (#6B8E23) | orange (#FFA500) |
orangered (#FF4500) | orchid (#DA70D6) | palegoldenrod (#EEE8AA) | palegreen (#98FB98) |
paleturquoise (#AFEEEE) | palevioletred (#DB7093) | papayawhip (#FFEFD5) | peachpuff (#FFDAB9) |
peru (#CD853F) | pink (#FFC0CB) | plum (#DDA0DD) | powderblue (#B0E0E6) |
purple (#800080) | red (#FF0000) | rosybrown (#BC8F8F) | royalblue (#4169E1) |
saddlebrown (#8B4513) | salmon (#FA8072) | sandybrown (#F4A460) | seagreen (#2E8B57) |
seashell (#FFF5EE) | sienna (#A0522D) | silver (#C0C0C0) | skyblue (#87CEEB) |
slateblue (#6A5ACD) | slategray (#708090) | snow (#FFFAFA) | springgreen (#00FF7F) |
steelblue (#4682B4) | tan (#D2B48C) | teal (#008080) | thistle (#D8BFD8) |
tomato (#FF6347) | turquoise (#40E0D0) | violet (#EE82EE) | wheat (#F5DEB3) |
white (#FFFFFF) | whitesmoke (#F5F5F5) | yellow (#FFFF00) | yellowgreen (#9ACD32) |
User-Defined System Colors
Microsoft Windows maintains a set of system colors for painting various parts of the display. In addition to the colors defined in the color table, as of Internet Explorer 4.0 these system colors may also be specified as color values in Web pages.
Users can set system colors for future Windows sessions using the Windows Control Panel. The following table illustrates the correspondence of these color names with the colors defined in the Control Panel.
activeborder | activecaption | appworkspace | background |
buttonface | buttonhighlight | buttonshadow | buttontext |
captiontext | graytext | highlight | highlighttext |
inactiveborder | inactivecaption | inactivecaptiontext | infobackground |
infotext | menu | menutext | scrollbar |
threeddarkshadow | threedface | threedhighlight | threedlightshadow |
threedshadow | window | windowframe | windowtext |