- From: John Hazen <john@cks.com>
- Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 11:22:08 -0800 (PST)
- To: www-style@w3.org
Hello- I just wanted to drop you a note supporting your recent decision to maintain a clean, single color specification. Having two color specs (RGB and HSL) would just make browsers even fatter, and since color is subjective, I always use a tool to pick my colors. Since you're probably getting some email on the other side of this issue, I thought I'd write in support of simplicity. John S. Hazen CKS Enterprise john@cks.com On Wed, 3 Dec 1997, Jeff Tycz wrote: > I received this via the CHI-WEB mailing list, it seems like something > that might be interesting to developers. > > ---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ---------------- > Date: 11/27 5:54 AM > Received: 11/27 6:27 AM > From: Steven Pemberton, Steven.Pemberton@CWI.NL > To: CHI-WEB@acm.org > > (Summary: By sending an email to w3c-style@w3.org, you can help > persuade the CSS group to include a more human-oriented notation for > colours than the RGB #FFFFFF style.) > > You may already be aware of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) a new part of > the World Wide Web that allow you to define the presentation of HTML > pages separate from the structure of the document. The new versions of > Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer already support > level 1 of CSS. (See http://www.w3.org/Style/css/). A working draft > for level 2 has just been released for public comment. > > One part of CSS is the ability to assign colours to elements (like > backgrounds, font colours, and so on). Up to now HTML has only allowed > you to specify colours using a numeric RGB notation like #FF35EF, and > a limited set of names, and CSS has taken this notation over for the > specification of colours. > > I am on the CSS committee, representing the HCI community, and my > opinion is that RGB notation is a poor notation from a usability point > of view: when confronted with a colour in RGB notation, it is hard to > determine what colour it is, and if you want to encode a colour, it is > next to impossible to do it without the use of a tool that does it for > you. > > I have been trying for some time to persuade the CSS committee to > accept a more human-oriented notation. Unfortunately the committee > consists for a large part of technologists, who don't see the need for > another notation when you've already got RGB, of implementers who > don't want any more work, of vendors who want to sell users tools to > select colours, and of people who say that they haven't heard any > demand from users for something easier to use (all these reasons were > used in meetings). > > My latest, and last-ditch attempt (since CSS has gone public and will > be offered for ratification soon) is for HSL notation. While not > perfect, it goes a long way to making colours more easily expressible, > while not increasing the work greatly for implementers. > > You can see the whole proposal at > http://www.cwi.nl/~steven/css/hsl.html, with examples of colours and > their encodings, but in a nutshell, HSL looks like this: > > * HSL encoded colours consist of three numbers: Hue, Saturation, and > Lightness. > > * Hue is an angle from 0 to 360 degrees. It represents a colour from > the colour circle, with red=0 (=360 degrees), green=120 degrees, > blue=240 degrees. So for instance, since magenta is halfway between > red > and blue, it is 300 degrees. > > * Saturation is 100% for a pure colour, down to 0% for a shade of grey > (completely unsaturated). > > * Lightness goes from 0% for no lightness (i.e. black), to 100% for > full lightness (white), with 50% being the 'normal' value for a > colour. > > So for instance, > hsl(0, 100, 50) is red; > hsl(0, 100, 25) is dark red, > hsl(0, 50, 50) is a pastel red, > hsl(0, 50, 25) is a dark pastel red, and > hsl(240, 50, 25) is a dark pastel blue. > > For the reasons mentioned above, the CSS committee have decided not to > include HSL colour specification, but have minuted that they will > publish the fact that it is an option, and if enough people ask for > it, it will be put in. > > This is why I am writing. If you think that CSS should include HSL > (and note that this is now the only option: it is not possible to > propose another solution), you should send an email to > www-style@w3.org, giving your opinion about what you think of RGB, and > why you think that HSL would help make the Web a more human-oriented > place. > > Thanks! > > Steven Pemberton, CWI, Amsterdam; Steven.Pemberton@cwi.nl > > > ----------------- End Forwarded Message ----------------- > > ________________ > Jeff Tycz > CKS Partners > > 408.342.5076 > jefftycz@cks.com > >
Received on Wednesday, 3 December 1997 14:22:17 UTC