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View Full Version : Hybrid colors, anyone?


snaip
05-06-2003, 08:42 AM
In the quest to beat the 216-color limitations of the Web-safe palette, some designers have come up with a simple technique, referred to as hybrid colors...

For those unfamiliar with hybrid colors, here's a brief intro:

The concept of hybrid colors is really simple. Hybrid colors take the advantage of the smallness of pixels, and take 2 or more Web-safe colors and combine them in some pattern, with the intention to trick the eye in seeing a different color. It is a form of dithering, and if done correctly, will not be noticed by the end user.

Various tools are available to aid you create these hybrid colors:

- BoxTop's ColorSage plug-in for Photoshop (http://www.boxtopsoft.com/)

- www.colormix.com (both online and downloadable color mixer) (http://www.colormix.com/)

Actually something important needs to be mentioned here. When web browsers usually encounter a color that is not a Web-safe color, it usually will automatically dither the color into a browser-safe colors of nearest match. But to safely break the 216-color barrier, it is advisable to use predithered patterns or so-called hybrid colors as I explained above.

By the way, do you use hybrid colors for your photographs, graphic design elements, or background colors OR you just stick within the 216-color limitations?
Mike
05-07-2003, 08:19 AM
When my site is actually finished, and starts to use up my bandwidth, that could be an option as it has been made in photoshop.
snaip
05-07-2003, 08:53 PM
Hi Mike,

Does using hybrid colors reduce the image size?
Mike
05-08-2003, 07:56 AM
From what I read there they do... but I may have misunderstood.
snaip
05-09-2003, 03:21 AM
I've never came across anything which mentions that hybrid colors saves bandwidth BUT logically thinking, it should!
Mike
05-09-2003, 08:14 AM
The reason I said that, was because if it limits the amount of colours (or mixes them together, you know what I mean) - then the image will be smaller and hence less use of bandwidth.
snaip
05-09-2003, 08:55 AM
Originally posted by Mike
The reason I said that, was because if it limits the amount of colours (or mixes them together, you know what I mean) - then the image will be smaller and hence less use of bandwidth.

That's what I thought too! :cool:
Vinnie
11-04-2003, 06:34 PM
The 216-color pallette is largely a myth nowadays. The average modern PC is capable of millions of colors. Even those with 16-bit color can see over 65 thousand colors. I prefer using the 4096 extended color pallette, also known as the "Web-smart Palette (http://www.ficml.org/jemimap/style/color/wheel.html)".
Percept
11-05-2003, 07:53 AM
Websafe colors are history IMHO.