That explains so much about those names. That aside, I didn't know that color names had such a contentious history! Or that the naming scheme is so inconsistent. I looked at the list and it still...
The most substantial release, created by Paul Raveling, came in 1989 with X11R4. ... In this version, programmers were introduced to the aforementioned “papaya whip” and “lemon chiffon,” as well as other loftily-named hues like “blanched almond” and “peach puff.”
Raveling drew these names from an unsurprising source: the (now-defunct) paint company Sinclair Paints.
That explains so much about those names.
That aside, I didn't know that color names had such a contentious history! Or that the naming scheme is so inconsistent. I looked at the list and it still uses "indianred" and "navajowhite" despite the mentioned controversy, likely to avoid breaking sites using them. (Though interestingly, navajowhite is next to "moccasin" which is VERY similar, to the point I thought it was an alternative name.) Meanwhile, there is a standalone "goldenrod" (though not "goldenrod yellow", which may be the sticking point), but no plain "violet red".
Looking at the list is almost nostalgic. Most of my exposure to color names came from the Neopets Adventure Generator as a kid. It's a CYOA creator where you can customize the colors for the text and background, and linked a list of all the named colors... Which I didn't always consult closely before typing in a name that sounded good. I still remember being highly disappointed by the pretty-sounding "chartreuse" being eye-searing acid green.
Genuinely thought the names must've been old abandoned Pantone names, but I never really thought to question that and dig into it because I spent so long in graphic design that I just assumed they...
Genuinely thought the names must've been old abandoned Pantone names, but I never really thought to question that and dig into it because I spent so long in graphic design that I just assumed they were Pantone colors I'd never heard of before (because I only ever deal with maybe 3 colors at a time.)
Finding out they're Sinclair paint swatches kind of makes me go "ew" and want to demand breaking changes...
I love this article. So fascinating. Thank you for sharing. The part about rebeccapurple was bittersweet. I honestly think more of those colors should be based on people's favorite colors. I like...
I love this article. So fascinating. Thank you for sharing.
The part about rebeccapurple was bittersweet. I honestly think more of those colors should be based on people's favorite colors. I like how it adds humanity to web development.
Lime green has always bothered me. What kind of lime is that color? Should have been called ninetiescartoonradioactivegloop. EDIT: Lime green. Fortunately redwall_hp replied to the color I meant :D
Lime green has always bothered me. What kind of lime is that color? Should have been called ninetiescartoonradioactivegloop.
EDIT: Lime green. Fortunately redwall_hp replied to the color I meant :D
Outside of CSS, lime green is typically in the chartreuse area, a vivid yellow-green and not a dark green. Basically the green you'd expect from neon tubes. Not what the fruit looks like, but...
Outside of CSS, lime green is typically in the chartreuse area, a vivid yellow-green and not a dark green. Basically the green you'd expect from neon tubes. Not what the fruit looks like, but color names have never culturally been literal in any sense.
While limes can be a fairly vivid green, they're often yellowish on the outside and always on the inside. That is fine. This is just wrong! I looked into it and apparently the incorrect color...
While limes can be a fairly vivid green, they're often yellowish on the outside and always on the inside. Thatisfine.
I looked into it and apparently the incorrect color balance of "lime" originated from the use of the term in early 16 color systems to refer to pure vivid green 00FF00, as a shorthand for telling it apart from "dark" green. Admittedly, if you're approximating colors to only 16 stops, it might be the closest one... depending on the lime?
The moniker then likely made it into HTML and CSS from X11 as described in the article.
Here it is in an early draft of CSS3 (this makes it all the way to the modern spec but it's fun to see the old version of it). Lime green is then a color between "lime" and "green" which is consistent with how other composite names were derived for CSS.
So the real answer is that this has never had anything to do with the fruit other than for how it inspired the use of "lime" for pure vivid green in old systems. If "limegreen" actually was consistent with expectations it would be far less confusing.
That makes a lot of sense. Green and blue have a much wider range than the other colors, to the point I know some languages have totally separate words for light and dark blues. Using one word for...
I looked into it and apparently the incorrect color balance of "lime" originated from the use of the term in early 16 color systems to refer to pure vivid green 00FF00, as a shorthand for telling it apart from "dark" green. Admittedly, if you're approximating colors to only 16 stops, it might be the closest one... depending on the lime?
That makes a lot of sense. Green and blue have a much wider range than the other colors, to the point I know some languages have totally separate words for light and dark blues. Using one word for a name is easier and neater, and "lime" is a common enough word on its own. All the common dark shades of green I can think of are two words like "forest green" and "pine green".
Also if anyone's curious, this site shows the 16 colors used by Windows. It also mentions how the names can vary. Looking at it, they go for common or at least simple and easy to spell words. Except for fuchsia. That one feels like it was chosen purely for spite.
There are so many better names for that color! Like "magenta", or "texture missing" :D Was it on tildes that I once saw an article about how that color is extra imaginary since our brains render...
There are so many better names for that color! Like "magenta", or "texture missing" :D
Was it on tildes that I once saw an article about how that color is extra imaginary since our brains render it from a composite of two fairly distinct wavelength intervals?
That explains so much about those names.
That aside, I didn't know that color names had such a contentious history! Or that the naming scheme is so inconsistent. I looked at the list and it still uses "indianred" and "navajowhite" despite the mentioned controversy, likely to avoid breaking sites using them. (Though interestingly, navajowhite is next to "moccasin" which is VERY similar, to the point I thought it was an alternative name.) Meanwhile, there is a standalone "goldenrod" (though not "goldenrod yellow", which may be the sticking point), but no plain "violet red".
Looking at the list is almost nostalgic. Most of my exposure to color names came from the Neopets Adventure Generator as a kid. It's a CYOA creator where you can customize the colors for the text and background, and linked a list of all the named colors... Which I didn't always consult closely before typing in a name that sounded good. I still remember being highly disappointed by the pretty-sounding "chartreuse" being eye-searing acid green.
Genuinely thought the names must've been old abandoned Pantone names, but I never really thought to question that and dig into it because I spent so long in graphic design that I just assumed they were Pantone colors I'd never heard of before (because I only ever deal with maybe 3 colors at a time.)
Finding out they're Sinclair paint swatches kind of makes me go "ew" and want to demand breaking changes...
I love this article. So fascinating. Thank you for sharing.
The part about rebeccapurple was bittersweet. I honestly think more of those colors should be based on people's favorite colors. I like how it adds humanity to web development.
There's a great article here from 37 degrees that discusses a better alternative to the conventional colour system in CSS.
Lime green has always bothered me. What kind of lime is that color? Should have been called ninetiescartoonradioactivegloop.
EDIT: Lime green. Fortunately redwall_hp replied to the color I meant :D
Outside of CSS, lime green is typically in the chartreuse area, a vivid yellow-green and not a dark green. Basically the green you'd expect from neon tubes. Not what the fruit looks like, but color names have never culturally been literal in any sense.
So it's consistent with expectations.
While limes can be a fairly vivid green, they're often yellowish on the outside and always on the inside. That is fine.
This is just wrong!
I looked into it and apparently the incorrect color balance of "lime" originated from the use of the term in early 16 color systems to refer to pure vivid green 00FF00, as a shorthand for telling it apart from "dark" green. Admittedly, if you're approximating colors to only 16 stops, it might be the closest one... depending on the lime?
The moniker then likely made it into HTML and CSS from X11 as described in the article.
Here it is in an early draft of CSS3 (this makes it all the way to the modern spec but it's fun to see the old version of it). Lime green is then a color between "lime" and "green" which is consistent with how other composite names were derived for CSS.
So the real answer is that this has never had anything to do with the fruit other than for how it inspired the use of "lime" for pure vivid green in old systems. If "limegreen" actually was consistent with expectations it would be far less confusing.
That makes a lot of sense. Green and blue have a much wider range than the other colors, to the point I know some languages have totally separate words for light and dark blues. Using one word for a name is easier and neater, and "lime" is a common enough word on its own. All the common dark shades of green I can think of are two words like "forest green" and "pine green".
Also if anyone's curious, this site shows the 16 colors used by Windows. It also mentions how the names can vary. Looking at it, they go for common or at least simple and easy to spell words. Except for fuchsia. That one feels like it was chosen purely for spite.
There are so many better names for that color! Like "magenta", or "texture missing" :D
Was it on tildes that I once saw an article about how that color is extra imaginary since our brains render it from a composite of two fairly distinct wavelength intervals?
I'd heard that before joining Tildes, still blows my mind. The brain is wild. Makes me wonder about all the other colors we can't see...