RGB is not ANSI-friendly

From the point of view of the user [ie the person specifying 
colors in a particular interface], a facility must be available to 
imitate ANSI color specification standards.  

An RGB-only standard does NOT address this issue at all.  

ANSI specifications are addressed in terms of the Munsell System, 
with CIE 1931 equivalents.  See for example the ANSI 
Safety Color Code - Standard Z535.1.  There's a picture of 
the CIE Chromacity digram at the following URL:
<http://cybertheater.com/Tech_Reports/Envir_Light/cie.html>

The HSL format provides a better means of approximating 
this standard approach to color specification.  It allows better
construction of interface design tools that match the color 
specs used in content experts' environments, as well as 
permitting standard APIs to be provided for conversion to RGB. 

This issue MUST be addressed in the CSS revisions. 

John Murray, Human Performance Group
Failure Analysis Associates, Menlo Park, CA
[jxm@fail.com, 1-650-688-7229]

Received on Tuesday, 2 December 1997 01:04:10 UTC