Are web-safe colors still relevant?

Question

Since the vast majority of monitors are 16-bit color or more, including mobile devices, does it make sense to even consider web-safe colors when choosing color schemes? Or is it something that ought to be relegated to history as a piece of trivia?

For those of you that don't know what web-safe colors are:

Another set of 216 color values is commonly considered to be the "web-safe" color palette, developed at a time when many computer displays were only capable of displaying 256 colors. A set of colors was needed that could be shown without dithering on 256-color displays; the number 216 was chosen partly because computer operating systems customarily reserved sixteen to twenty colors for their own use; it was also selected because it allows exactly six shades each of red, green, and blue (6 × 6 × 6 = 216).

The list of colors is often presented as if it has special properties that render them immune to dithering. In fact, on 256-color displays applications can set a palette of any selection of colors that they choose, dithering the rest. These colors were chosen specifically because they matched the palettes selected by the then leading browser applications. ^[Wikipedia]

Answer 1

In my opinion, its history.

Answer 2

I don't think web safe colors are relevant any more. To me, a much bigger problem for smartphones are all the fixed-width 960-pixel wide web pages.

Answer 3

Web safe colors are pretty much not a problem anymore unless you are dealing with consumers that will have legacy (think > 10 year old) video display equipment.

Answer 4

It depends what you mean by web safe colours.

In terms of 16bit colour it's probably not worth worrying about. However Colours do not appear the same across devices. This can lead to all sorts of problems particularly if a designers gamma settings are different to your particular monitor set up.

So you still need to test your design across multiple set ups.

Answer 5

For those of us (like me) that didn't know exactly what web safe colors are, they were

developed at a time when many computer displays were only capable of displaying 256 colors. A set of colors was needed that could be shown without dithering on 256-color displays; the number 216 was chosen partly because computer operating systems customarily reserved sixteen to twenty colors for their own use; it was also selected because it allows exactly six shades each of red, green, and blue (6 × 6 × 6 = 216).

The list of colors is often presented as if it has special properties that render them immune to dithering. In fact, on 256-color displays applications can set a palette of any selection of colors that they choose, dithering the rest. These colors were chosen specifically because they matched the palettes selected by the then leading browser applications.

It's hard to imagine any of this applying to today's modern displays, since almost nobody runs their display in 256 colors anymore (unless perhaps they are playing an old version of Leisure Suit Larry).

Answer 6

Yes, it's definitely a thing of the past. Place its importance right next to your marquee tags.

Answer 7

For me web safe color palette is no longer primary concern. Optimize for the largest target audience.

According to w3schools only 1% of their site visitors in January 2009 had 256 color displays, 95% of users had 24 or 32 bit.

I found similar numbers from a business app site that I look after:

32-bit  79.01%  

24-bit  15.64%  

16-bit  5.27%   

8-bit   0.08%

Answer 8

I think the most important thing when choosing a colour palette is keeping in mind colour-blindness. There are a few different types that I know of, but the main thing is making sure that you have enough contrast between colours.

For example green text on a red background might be easier for some to read, but very difficult or maybe impossible for others (5-10% of males!), especially if the values of the colours are close.

Answer 9

IMHO the point is really moot. Colors that aren't web safe are dithered anyway. It may not look the best in 256-color modes but as long as functional elements of the page/applications are not dependent on those colors it will not disturb the user experience that much.

Also most users surfing in 256-color modes will be aware of the fact colors will be dithered as I don't think that a lot of sites adhere to the web-safe colorschemes anymore.

Answer 10

According to research, even the web safe colors were not web safe. It was an interesting idea while it was relevant, thankfully that's over now.