Re: HTML 3.2 PR color value syntax

S.N.Brodie@ecs.soton.ac.uk wrote:
> I think rather than R100%G100%B100% it would be better to have:
> 
> RGB:50%,0%,50%
> CYMK:0%,100%,0%,50%
> 
> etc.  I find that much easier to read (both in a parser and as a
human!)
> Using this prefix style of notation also leaves open the possibility
of
> adding different colour models in the future.

Professional displays may someday be 48-bit. Percentage values
shouldn't be limited to integers, or even one decimal place. In
PostScript, color values range from 0 to 1 with no limit on decimal
places. That way the specifier can be any precision and the renderer
can trim the value to whatever precision it can represent.

As for percentages of RGB, is there anyone out there who can actually
visualize 20%R35%G67%B with any accuracy? I've never seen RGB color
tables represented as decimal percentages. Specifying RGB in integer
percentages effectively limits color choices to 6% of what's possible
with 8-bit values. Anyone serious about designing for RGB displays
needs to learn something about bits and bytes and the difference
between #000000 and #FFFFFF.

IMHO, hex RGB is sufficient for HTML. More complex color specification
makes sense for style sheets, along with the option to define color
names and corresponding values.

David Perrell

Received on Tuesday, 12 November 1996 11:50:16 UTC