Colour Choices

In any industry, the choice of colour for a uniform or logo makes a big difference in how your customers perceive your business. Applying this logic to building websites is the topic of this section of the article, which will give you a guide to choosing colours that represent what you and your site does in the most effective way possible.

Standard Web Colours
Before we begin, it is necessary to understand that not every computer displays colours in the same way, and as such, a set of 216 web standard colours has been defined that will be supported over basically every web browser the same way. For the majority of pages it is advisable to use these "web safe" colours, so all your users experience your site as you intended it to be.

Colour Highlighting
Another consideration when choosing colours for your websites, is where to put each colour? Black text on a white background is the most obvious choice for content, as it is the easiest to read. But, how should your colour choice affect your navigation and extra text? Menus are a good place to start when choosing where to place colours, as it is important to highlight them. Use of your main (or primary) colour and a bright, easy to read contrasting colour is a great way to highlight items in your menu without the use of pictures or animations.

The 3 Site Colours
Now that we’ve got that covered, lets get to what really matters – what colours look good! For the majority of websites, there are 3 basic colours that are used for all pages. The primary colour, usually featured in a logo or a header, is the first colour your users will associate your site with. This is usually complimented with a secondary colour that is only slightly different from the primary colour – either slightly lighter or a different hue. Finally there is the third colour, one used to highlight important areas on the page such as links or headings, which is usually a colour that contrasts the primary and secondary colours.

As mentioned in the last paragraph, contrasting colours are needed on any page to give it some extra "spice". Pages with two shades of one colour and a white background can be appealing. But, with just that extra bit of difference it can totally increase the effectiveness of the look of your site. Bear in mind though, the contrast should not just be any old bright colour – it needs to also complement the image of your site.

Corporate Colours
Corporate sites usually stick with their real world uniform counterparts, with greys, navy blues and other "professional" colours used as a basis of their sites – a good example of this are these three colours, used on many business sites:
#021C6F
#1D0843
#CCCCCC

Of course you will want to stick with a colour system that matches your current logo and identity, so a standard set of colours may not be enough. There are many tools on the WWW that can simplify your colour choices by selecting colours that complement your primary one.

Useful Colour Combinations
Using this information you should be able to choose a colour selection that is attractive and easy on the eye – a great way to complement your corporate logo and content! I’ve included some extra combinations that can be used by your sites!

Woman / Girl Oriented Site
#DDECC7
#D187A7
#C949B5

Pastel Combination
#796190
#BCBA24
#F0DEC0

Colour Selector Sites:
http://wellstyled.com/tools/
http://www.webwhirlers.com/colors/spinwheel.asp

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