Recommended Website Color Schemes

Website color schemes are important for ensuring that websites are easy to read and have a good appearance. An inappropriately selected combination of colors can discourage people from using a website, regardless of the quality of its content. Good website color schemes have contrasting text and background colors, while avoiding excessively bright backgrounds. Here are some recommended color schemes and codes to use for them when creating the HTML...

1. Black over beige: This is a pleasant combination which is easier on readers' eyes than black over white. The codes are "FFFFCC" for the background and "000000" for the text. It is suitable for a wide variety of website types.

2. Yellow over blue: This scheme uses the codes "0000AA" (background) and "FFFF00" (text; could substitute with "FFFFFF" for white). It is preferable to use bold text or a larger font size with schemes which have dark backgrounds, as the text doesn't show up as well as letters on a light-colored background do.

3. White over dark green: This website color scheme uses the codes "555500" (background) and "FFFFFF". This is a good combination to use on a website about outdoor activities, anything related to forests, or environmentalism. A slightly lighter green which still has good contrast can be achieved by using the background color code "666600".

4. White or yellow over dark grey: Arguably more pleasant and easier to read than bright colors over plain black, this website color combination uses the codes "555555" (background) and "FFFFFF" (white) or "FFFF00" (yellow; bold or large font recommended) for the text. Using the yellow text option gives the website a more interesting and welcoming appearance.

5. Dark blue over light blue: A combination with good contrast, it uses the following color codes: "AAFFFF" (background) and "003366" (text). This scheme might be used for a website related to the ocean, swimming pools, or weather. It looks good with fairly large and/or bold text.

The above-mentioned website color schemes have been tested using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0, IE 3.0, and Opera 8.54 on computers with two different operating systems and video cards (one with 32-bit color, the other with 256 colors). When tested in sixteen color mode (for computers with EGA and early VGA video cards/adapters), some of the colors changed, but they still had good contrast and were easy to read. The schemes were also tested on both CRT and LCD monitors, verifying that they look good on just about any computer.