Using A Color Palette To Improve Your Website
Designing a website? You'll need a color palette in order to get the best design possible. The internet can now handle many color displays compared to the time just a few years ago when monitors only displayed 256 colors. Older computers will still use this color system. Some website designers prefer to stick with the options that 256 colors give them because it's easier than dealing with the thousands of colors now available to add to web pages.
Choosing colors from a color palette is rather simple. There are just a few things to consider. What mood are you wanting to convey? Do you want a muted website, with soft tones, complimentary and soothing colors? Or do you prefer a bright and striking site with contrasting colors? Choosing calming blues and greens will be viewed differently than choosing firey reds and yellows. Take into consideration your company logo when designing your website. Selecting a color or a complimentary color from your logo will give your site a finished look.
What type of product are you selling or promoting? Will snow equipment really look good on a site with a black background and green writing? Try to choose complimentary colors that go with your product. Colors can also affect the mood of the website visitor so take into mind what mood you'd like to display on your site. Calming blue is the most commonly used color on the web. Firey red might be fun to use but is that the mood you want for your site?
Colors are a great way to make a statement. Use greens to sell gardening supplies, blues for fishing equipment and vibrant red for those hot chilis you grow. A color palette will help you when designing the perfect web site. Start with one main color and use it predominantly on your page. All other colors should be minimal and compliment the main color. Attracting more visitors to your site is what you want and keeping them there is what's necessary to be sucessful. Choose your colors wisely when designing your site. Stick to 3 colors if possible and no more than 5. Too many colors will just be distracting.
Using the 256 color palette will still enable you to choose complimentary, contrasting or triadic colors for your website. There may not be as many shades of color to choose from, but you should be able to find a complimentary color that comes close to the colors in your logo or heading. Choosing to use 3 to 5 of the colors found in the 256 color palette will ensure that older monitors can provide the same view that you have displayed. When it comes down to web safe colors, there are 22 that can be seen by all computers, new and old, pc and Mac. If you really want to play it safe, choose your colors from the 22 color palette and you can't go wrong.