I’m creating my first site in FWPro. It’s a recreation of a site I did in iWeb – I’ve decided to make the switch for reasons most of you are probably aware of.
In iWeb I set the page color to the RGB color 253 234 190. In FW I just set the page color to the same thing.
There’s a major difference in the way they look. The FW page is a light lighter.
Both were done on the same computer. I thought that there was consistency in RGB colors on the same computer (I wasn’t sure about different computers).
Can anyone explain to me why there’s this difference?
I created a box in iW and gave it the colour of #6699FF however when I looked at the HTML code it was actually #78ACFF
When I used your RGB values (253 234 190) it then converts them to Hex values of #FEEDCA
I suspect that this is a the root of your problem.
What you could do to try and match your existing site is to reduce the size of your FW window so that you can open your site in a browser window alongside.
Go into the Colours inspector and click the cog to create a New Colour
When that dialogue box opens click on the colour wheel down at the bottom. A new dialogue opens and up near the top is a small magnifying glass. When you click on that the cursor changes to a magnifying glass and you can then click on any colour on the desktop or in your windows to sample that colour.
Once you have clicked and the colour has appeared next to the little icon then OK that dialogue box and in the next one you can give colour1 or whatever FW has named it a more meaningful name.
Then try applying that new colour in your FW doc and see how it looks.
Alternatively you can look at the code that iWeb has output and see exactly what values were assigned as presumably they do not match what you chose.
If you can post a link to your existing site and point out which colour you are trying to duplicate then one of us can read the code for you.
Thanks, Dave. I’ll bet that will do the trick. I’m sure that I can read the iWeb code – not necessarily understanding it enough to find the # code and try that. I appreciate your help on this and I’ll let you know whether it worked.
I would bet money that iWeb is using ColorSync to calibrate the
output, so that someone else looking at your site would see the same
color as you see on your display.
Walter
On Dec 22, 2010, at 7:50 AM, DeltaDave wrote:
I created a box in iW and gave it the colour of #6699FF however when
I looked at the HTML code it was actually #78ACFF
Hi there martin, Just thought I would add to all that has been said. for reasons beyond the point of your question, RGB and CMYK are never absolute colour spaces. the only absolute colour space that never shifts is LAB. It is upon this colour space that your computer defines all world wide colours, through the computers LUT (Internal look up table).
In practise what this also means is that an RGB value of 128.128.128 in your computer software (perfect midtone gray) would appear as 128.129.126 in another piece of software either on another computer or in another piece of software on your exact same computer. It all has to do with translation of colour values, and different pieces of software compute these colour values differently because the language of one software needs to be translated through an interpreter (LUT) into another language.
So to sum up, RGB values are not static colours per se they are simply a language that needs to be translated into another language, there is no consistency between software products on the same computer UNLESS that software had an internal colour management policy where it could adjust itself for for various colour spaces and translations, which Iweb does not. Photoshop, illustrator and adobe acrobat and other image manipulation products generally do.
I know this all sounds technical, but I merely wanted to give you some background overview so that you would not be surprised when this sort of thing happens again.
Also one other factor, if your screen has aged a mere 3 months between viewing, the way your eye sees the colours will change, tonal values will alter. Afetr 1 year they will alter very much, and so this could also be a factor, Unless you calibrate your monitor regularly.
Thanks, Chris. This added and explained a lot and I appreciate it. So much to learn and so little time. I got my first Mac in 84 and since then founded two software companies, yet what I don’t know would fill the Library of Congress!
Martin
On Dec 22, 2010, at 11:59 AM, Chris Watts wrote:
Hi there martin, Just thought I would add to all that has been said. for reasons beyond the point of your question, RGB and CMYK are never absolute colour spaces. the only absolute colour space that never shifts is LAB. It is upon this colour space that your computer defines all world wide colours, through the computers LUT (Internal look up table).
In practise what this also means is that an RGB value of 128.128.128 in your computer software (perfect midtone gray) would appear as 128.129.126 in another piece of software either on another computer or in another piece of software on your exact same computer. It all has to do with translation of colour values, and different pieces of software compute these colour values differently because the language of one software needs to be translated through an interpreter (LUT) into another language.
So to sum up, RGB values are not static colours per se they are simply a language that needs to be translated into another language, there is no consistency between software products on the same computer UNLESS that software had an internal colour management policy where it could adjust itself for for various colour spaces and translations, which Iweb does not. Photoshop, illustrator and adobe acrobat and other image manipulation products generally do.
I know this all sounds technical, but I merely wanted to give you some background overview so that you would not be surprised when this sort of thing happens again.
Also one other factor, if your screen has aged a mere 3 months between viewing, the way your eye sees the colours will change, tonal values will alter. Afetr 1 year they will alter very much, and so this could also be a factor, Unless you calibrate your monitor regularly.
Oh, OH, what I don’t know about HTML and web design would fill any space you had left over, perhaps the basement?
I am more of a photographer claiming poetic license to be creative. But actually am quite glued up on colour management. So it is more that one has to dispel myths which the average guy on the street has, than it is about getting technical.
But one really nice thing, colour is never ever going to be an exact science. Its very nature is subjective, and when someone else looks at your perfectly wonderful web design in the kitchen light with a yellow light bulb - you would think that you have wasted your time because they will say - yuk, who designed that colour? But actually it is their problem.
Another tip/ actually encouragement, look at your screen colours and ask yourself, do I like that. If yes. then don’t compare it toooo much with another colour. reason? Comparing colours is like comparing two steaks from different restaurants. the first restaurant youhad a great time and the food was top notch. Then you go to the second restaurant…whoops…you think this is better, and you say the last one was not good?! now you know why colour is so subjective. Also surrounding light does affect your perception about what you see on the screen. look at Blue in the evening, then look at the same colour in the middle of the day. It will never appear the same, and every colour works like this.
enough to find the # code and try that. I appreciate your help on this and I’ll let you know whether it worked.