Hybrid colors, anyone?

**snaip** · 05-06-2003, 08:42 AM

In the quest to beat the 216-color limitations of the Web-safe palette, some designers have come up with a simple technique, referred to as hybrid colors...

For those unfamiliar with hybrid colors, here's a brief intro:

The concept of hybrid colors is really simple. Hybrid colors take the advantage of the smallness of pixels, and take 2 or more Web-safe colors and combine them in some pattern, with the intention to trick the eye in seeing a different color. It is a form of dithering, and if done correctly, will not be noticed by the end user.

Various tools are available to aid you create these hybrid colors:

- BoxTop's ColorSage plug-in for Photoshop

- www.colormix.com (both online and downloadable color mixer)

Actually something important needs to be mentioned here. When web browsers usually encounter a color that is not a Web-safe color, it usually will automatically dither the color into a browser-safe colors of nearest match. But to safely break the 216-color barrier, it is advisable to use predithered patterns or so-called hybrid colors as I explained above.

By the way, do you use hybrid colors for your photographs, graphic design elements, or background colors OR you just stick within the 216-color limitations?

**Mike** · 05-07-2003, 08:19 AM

When my site is actually finished, and starts to use up my bandwidth, that could be an option as it has been made in photoshop.

**snaip** · 05-07-2003, 08:53 PM

Hi Mike,

Does using hybrid colors reduce the image size?

**Mike** · 05-08-2003, 07:56 AM

From what I read there they do... but I may have misunderstood.

**snaip** · 05-09-2003, 03:21 AM

I've never came across anything which mentions that hybrid colors saves bandwidth BUT logically thinking, it should!

**Mike** · 05-09-2003, 08:14 AM

The reason I said that, was because if it limits the amount of colours (or mixes them together, you know what I mean) - then the image will be smaller and hence less use of bandwidth.

**snaip** · 05-09-2003, 08:55 AM

Originally posted by Mike
The reason I said that, was because if it limits the amount of colours (or mixes them together, you know what I mean) - then the image will be smaller and hence less use of bandwidth.

That's what I thought too!

**Vinnie** · 11-04-2003, 06:34 PM

The 216-color pallette is largely a myth nowadays. The average modern PC is capable of millions of colors. Even those with 16-bit color can see over 65 thousand colors. I prefer using the 4096 extended color pallette, also known as the "Web-smart Palette".