Help:Using colours
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "redirect hatnote". Script error: No such module "about". Template:Wikipedia how to Template:Warning link color Script error: No such module "Message box".
To use a colour in a template or table you can use the hex triplet (e.g. <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#CD7F32 is bronze) or HTML color name (e.g. red).
Editors are encouraged to make use of tools, such as Color Brewer 2 to create Brewer palettes, listed at MOS:COLOR for color scheme selection used in graphical charts, maps, tables, and webpages with accessibility in mind for color-blind and visually impaired users.
For color tables and a color pallette, see MOS:COLORS. For the WikiProject, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Color.
Overriding font colourScript error: No such module "anchor".
To apply colour to text, use:
<span style="color:hex triplet or colour name">text</span>
Note that you cannot use the Commonwealth spelling, "colour", in HTML tags used in wikitext.
Examples:
<span style="color:Template:Highlight round">red writing</span>shows as red writing<span style="color:Template:Highlight round">green writing</span>shows as green writing<span style="color:Template:Highlight round">blue writing</span>shows as blue writing
Template font colour Script error: No such module "anchor".
Template:Tl, or its redirect Template:Tl, can also be used.
Colour generation guide
Script error: No such module "Hatnote".
The method used for selecting the colors for various top-level pages, e.g. Main Page, Community Portal, Contents, and Help:Contents.
The 3 colours are generated using the HSV colour space, then translated into RGB.
| Hue | Saturation 4% Brightness 100% main background |
Saturation 10% Brightness 100% 2nd header, accent colour |
Saturation 15% Brightness 95% main border header background |
Saturation 15% Brightness 75% header border only |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note: for layouts with no spacing between borders, use the darker border colour. | ||||
| 0° | #FFF5F5 | #FFE6E6 | #F2CECE | #BFA3A3 |
| 10° | #FFF7F5 | #FFEAE6 | #F2D4CE | #BFA7A3 |
| 20° | #FFF8F5 | #FFEEE6 | #F2DACE | #BFACA3 |
| 30° | #FFFAF5 | #FFF2E6 | #F2E0CE | #BFB1A3 |
| 40° | #FFFCF5 | #FFF7E6 | #F2E6CE | #BFB6A3 |
| 50° | #FFFDF5 | #FFFBE6 | #F2ECCE | #BFBAA3 |
| 60° | #FFFFF5 | #FFFFE6 | #F2F2CE | #BFBFA3 |
| 70° | #FDFFF5 | #FBFFE6 | #ECF2CE | #BABFA3 |
| 80° | #FCFFF5 | #F7FFE6 | #E6F2CE | #B6BFA3 |
| 90° | #FAFFF5 | #F2FFE6 | #E0F2CE | #B1BFA3 |
| 100° | #F8FFF5 | #EEFFE6 | #DAF2CE | #ACBFA3 |
| 110° | #F7FFF5 | #EAFFE6 | #D4F2CE | #A7BFA3 |
| 120° | #F5FFF5 | #E6FFE6 | #CEF2CE | #A3BFA3 |
| 130° | #F5FFF7 | #E6FFEA | #CEF2D4 | #A3BFA7 |
| 140° | #F5FFF8 | #E6FFEE | #CEF2DA | #A3BFAC |
| 150° | #F5FFFA | #E6FFF2 | #CEF2E0 | #A3BFB1 |
| 160° | #F5FFFC | #E6FFF7 | #CEF2E6 | #A3BFB6 |
| 170° | #F5FFFD | #E6FFFB | #CEF2EC | #A3BFBA |
| 180° | #F5FFFF | #E6FFFF | #CEF2F2 | #A3BFBF |
| 190° | #F5FDFF | #E6FBFF | #CEECF2 | #A3BABF |
| 200° | #F5FCFF | #E6F7FF | #CEE6F2 | #A3B6BF |
| 210° | #F5FAFF | #E6F2FF | #CEE0F2 | #A3B1BF |
| 220° | #F5F8FF | #E6EEFF | #CEDAF2 | #A3ACBF |
| 230° | #F5F7FF | #E6EAFF | #CED4F2 | #A3A7BF |
| 240° | #F5F5FF | #E6E6FF | #CECEF2 | #A3A3BF |
| 250° | #F7F5FF | #EAE6FF | #D4CEF2 | #A7A3BF |
| 260° | #F8F5FF | #EEE6FF | #DACEF2 | #ACA3BF |
| 270° | #FAF5FF | #F2E6FF | #E0CEF2 | #B1A3BF |
| 280° | #FCF5FF | #F7E6FF | #E6CEF2 | #B6A3BF |
| 290° | #FDF5FF | #FBE6FF | #ECCEF2 | #BAA3BF |
| 300° | #FFF5FF | #FFE6FF | #F2CEF2 | #BFA3BF |
| 310° | #FFF5FD | #FFE6FB | #F2CEEC | #BFA3BA |
| 320° | #FFF5FC | #FFE6F7 | #F2CEE6 | #BFA3B6 |
| 330° | #FFF5FA | #FFE6F2 | #F2CEE0 | #BFA3B1 |
| 340° | #FFF5F8 | #FFE6EE | #F2CEDA | #BFA3AC |
| 350° | #FFF5F7 | #FFE6EA | #F2CED4 | #BFA3A7 |
| S: 0% | #FFFFFF | #F9F9F9 | #F2F2F2 | #BFBFBF |
Wikimedia colour schemesScript error: No such module "anchor".
Wikipedia
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Wikipedia uses this colour scheme on its Main Page and, for the final row, on the Community Portal. Script error: No such module "Hatnote".
| Hue | Light Box background / border |
Title background / border | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F5FFFA / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#CEF2E0 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#CEF2E0 / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#A3BFB1 | ||
| 210° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F5FAFF / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#CEDFF2 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#CEDFF2 / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#A3B0BF | ||
| 270° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FAF5FF / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#DDCEF2 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#DDCEF2 / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#AFA3BF | ||
| 330° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FFF5FA / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F2CEDD | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F2CEDD / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#BFA3AF | ||
| 30° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FFFAF5 / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F2E0CE | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F2E0CE / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#BFB1A3 | ||
Additional 3-colour palettes using this same generation scheme are at the top of the talk page. In the Monobook skin, the background colour of Wikipedia pages is <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F8FCFF. In the Vector 2022 skin, the background colour on all pages in light mode is <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FFFFFF.
Commons
The Wikimedia Commons uses this colour scheme on commons:Main Page and commons:Help:Contents. Differing from the English Wikipedia, Commons does not use an extra, darker colour for bordering the header. Also, the colour sets are not derived from a hue the way the above table does.
| Light Box background / border |
Title background / border | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F1F5FC / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#ABD5F5 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#D0E5F5 / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#ABD5F5 | ||
| <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FAF6ED / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#ABD5F5 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FAECC8 / <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FAD67D | ||
Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation Design team has provided a color palette with colors being marked toward level AA conformance. It is used for all user-interface elements across products and in the main Wikimedia themes, desktop and mobile. However, it does not consider linked text.
Accessibility
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". It is best to choose background colors that offer sufficient contrast in relation to text and blue links, which is also the color of references, both of which are very common in most articles. Use the WCAG link contrast checker to ensure that the chosen background color offers the recommended WCAG AA level of contrast against normal text (Template:Legend inline) and blue links (Template:Legend inline for the default Vector 2022 skin).[1]
| Base color | Darkest backgrounds for dark text | Lightest background for white text | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Hue | Hex | Color | Text and links (WCAG AA) |
Text only | Pure black text (not default) | |
| Red | 0° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF0000 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FFE6E6 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF8888 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF6060 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#B60000 | |
| Orange | 30° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF8000 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FFE8D0 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF8E1C | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#E97500 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#8C4600 | |
| Yellow | 60° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FFFF00 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F3F300 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#B1B100 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#9B9B00 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#5C5C00 | |
| Chartreuse | 90° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#80FF00 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#B9FF72 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#61C100 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#54A900 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#326500 | |
| Green | 120° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00FF00 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#ABFFAB | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00C700 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00AE00 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#006800 | |
| Spring green | 150° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00FF80 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#9DFFCE | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00C563 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00AC56 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#006733 | |
| Cyan | 180° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00FFFF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#7DFFFF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00BFBF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#00A6A6 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#006363 | |
| Azure | 210° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#0080FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#DCEEFF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#60B0FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#3098FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#0057AF | |
| Blue | 240° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#0000FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#EAEAFF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#A2A2FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#8888FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#3030FF | |
| Violet | 270° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#8000FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#F3E7FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#C994FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#B974FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#7600EC | |
| Magenta | 300° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF00FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FFE3FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF73FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF29FF | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#9F009F | |
| Rose | 330° | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF0080 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FFE4F1 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF81C0 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#FF52A8 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#B00058 | |
| Grey | — | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />808080 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#EBEBEB | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#ABABAB | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#959595 | <templatestyles src="Mono/styles.css" />#595959 | |
Schemes for colour-blind readers
Script error: No such module "Shortcut". Approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women with Northern European ancestry have red-green colour blindness; this and other types affect people worldwide.[2] This table shows "safe" groups of colours which are distinguishable to most colour-blind people, although colour should never be used as the sole method to convey information.
See also Commons:Commons:Creating accessible illustrations for color blind friendly palettes.
| Colour 1 | Colour 2 | Colour 3 | Colour 4 | Colour 5 | Colour 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | Yellow | Blue | Red | Black | Grey |
| Green | |||||
| Lime | Purple | Brown | Cyan | ||
| Orange | Pink |
- Pick a maximum of one colour from each column. Do not use more than one colour from any one column.
- Use large expanses of the colour. If you're colouring text, use bold and a large font.
- For small expanses of colour, such as thin lines, clearly label them with text, or use non-colour techniques such as font styles (bold or italic), line styles (dots and dashes) or cross-hatching (stripes, checkers or polka-dots).
- Use bright mid-range colours, like children's crayons. Do not use light or dark variants of the colours.
- If you need more colours... hard luck. Instead use non-colour techniques such as labelling, font styles (bold or italic), line styles (dots and dashes) or cross-hatching (stripes, checkers or polka-dots).
- If you are colour-blind yourself, check your revised image with a colour-sighted person to confirm the meaning is intact.
The following utilities may be of use in determining whether a revised image is distinguishable to colour-blind users. Typically they take a web page or image file as an input, and render a colour-blind simulated image as output:
- Mozilla Firefox color-blind addons
- Sim Daltonism simulates color blind vision and displays the results in a floating palette for macOS and iOS. Freeware.
- Color Oracle downloadable, free color blindness simulator for Windows, Mac and Linux. Freeware.
Colour ramps
The standard rainbow should not be used to represent continuous data, because it creates artificial thresholds; humans do not see the spectrum as a smooth ramp. Greyscales, or a perceptually-even colour ramps, or a colour map chosen to deliberately highlight certain features, are preferable. Diverging colour ramps (two colour extremes around a white or black neutral value) tend to hide some high-frequency features.
Colours have cultural connotations; pick ones that match your data. That is, a diverging colour ramp with extremes "hot, cold" will be easier to understand than the reverse (hot, cold).
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
See also
Templates
- To colour text and background:
- To provide example squares of colour:
Related help pages
- Template:Slink
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility/Colors
- Help:How to reduce colors for saving a JPEG as PNG
- Help:Link color
- Help:Displaying a formula#Color
- Wikipedia:Infobox colours – inactive
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Usability/Color – inactive
Encyclopedia articles
Lists of colours
- Lists of colours
- Template that list colours
Guide to colours
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".