CHOOSE COLORS FROM THE CROSS-BROWSER COLOR PALETTE

Netscape and Internet Explorer have different color palettes, so an 8-bit color that you choose using one browser may look completely different when displayed in another.

To be sure that your color images look similar across browsers, confine your color choices to the 216 colors that are displayed similarly by both browsers.

Here's how: An 8-bit color is represented by a hex value made up of six hex numbers. The first two numbers represent the amount of red, the middle two the amount of green, and the last two the amount of blue (hence, the name, RGB value). If you confine your colors to any combination where red, green, and blue are represented by the hex numbers 00, 33, 66, 99, CC, or FF, your colors will be within the cross-browser color range.

This gives you 6 possible values for red, for green, and for blue, or 6x6x6 color combinations, which equals 216 color values.

This tip provided by Microsoft Web Builder, a monthly publication of ZD Journals (formerly The Cobb Group).