Background Color

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Many websites today use a background image to tile across and down the web page. Because this image is one more image to download, thus slowing download time, many websites now are returning to the basics, using a good balance of colors including a background color. If a background color is not specified in the HTML code, then the users browser determines the background color by default.

Unless the default color is changed, Netscape will apply a light gray background, and Internet Explorer will apply a white background. If you have your default background color on your browser changed to, say gray, light blue, light yellow and so forth, then every page which does not specify a background color, will display in your default color. This could cause unpredictable results. 

For example, you code your web page without specifying a background color. The user downloads your webpage, and the browser, seeing no background color settings, establishes its default of light gray to the background. Your graphics and text which looks great on white, then looks awful on gray:

The default background color for Netscape is Silver.


The default background color for Internet Explorer is White


To reset your page so that ALL browsers including Netscape will see a white background, change the BGCOLOR attribute in the <BODY> tag to white:

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">

The specific color of your background is stated in the value of the BGCOLOR attribuite. Values are stated in hexadecimal numbers, (0-9, A-F), and are placed in quotations. The six-digit hexadecimal number must be preceded with a number sign ( # ). By mixing Red #FF0000, Green #00FF00, and Blue #0000FF, you can select any of over 65,000 (24 bit) colors for the background. But remember, the higher the hexadecimal values for the BGCOLOR the more color that is added, and full saturation of all colors produces WHITE. If your text and link colors are dark, use a light background or change the text to compliment the background color.

Here are some more color combinations:

Text in HEX                    
000000 FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
555555 FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
999999 FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
BBBBBB FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
FFFFFF FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
FFFFBB FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
BBFFBB FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
DDEEFF FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
99BBFF FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00
5555BB FFFFFF BBBBBB 999999 555555 000000 FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFF00 FFFF00