[ACCEPTED]-Are there any good reasons for using hex over decimal for RGB colour values in CSS?-rgb

Hex values are easier to copy and paste 6 from your favourite image editor.

RGB values 5 are easier to manipulate with Javascript.

(My 4 favourite Hex colour value is #EDEDED and 3 a site we made for a client involved in 2 motorsport had a background colour of #F1F1F1 1 :-)

Ed.

It's worth noting that if you want to input 12 an RGBA value, hex notation is not supported; i.e., you 11 can't fake it with #FFFFFFff. As a matter 10 of fact, the alpha value must be a number 9 between 0.0 and 1.0, inclusive. (Check out 8 this page for browser support -- as always, IE is 7 leading the pack here. ;) )

HSL and HSLA 6 color support -- which is very designer friendly 5 -- is also provided with a similar syntax 4 to the RGB() style. If a designer were to 3 use both types of color values in the same 2 stylesheet, they might opt for decimal values 1 over hex codes for consistency.

I think it's what you're used to. If you're 28 used to HTML, you'll probably use HEX since 27 it's just been used a lot in HTML. If you're 26 from a design background, using Photoshop/Corel/PaintShopPro 25 etc., then you're likely used to the RGB 24 notation - though, a lot of programs these 23 days incorporate a HEX value field too.

As 22 said, RGBA might be a reason to just go 21 with the RGB notation - consistency.

Though, I 20 think it also depends on the scenario. If 19 you're comfortable with both, you might 18 just switch between them: #fff is a lot easier 17 to type than rgb(255,255,255).

Another question is why people 16 will say #fff instead of White (assuming most browsers 15 support this keyword).

It's all a matter 14 of preference and legibility - if you're 13 maintaining a huge CSS file, being able 12 to look at the colour value and know what 11 colour it is, is a really good advantage. Even 10 more advantageous is using something like 9 LESS or Sass to add a kind of programmability to 8 CSS - allowing constants for example. So 7 instead of saying:

#title { color: #abcdef; }

You might instead do the 6 following with LESS:

@base-color: #abcdef;

#title { color: @base-color; }

Maintaining the CSS 5 becomes less of an issue.

If you're worried 4 about the performance of the browser rendering 3 it's result, then that could also be another 2 factor to your choice.

So in summary, it 1 boils down to:

• Familiarity
• Preference
• Maintainability
• Performance

The main reason is probably compactness, as 5 you mentioned. #ffffff can even be further shortened 4 to the #fff shorthand notation.

Another possible 3 reason is that there's a perceived performance 2 increase by saving the browser the trouble 1 of converting the rgb notation.

Traditionally HTML has always used hex colours, so 2 that has carried forward into CSS. Think 1 <font color="#ffffff">

I always used hex, but today I prefer to 6 set my values as:

rgb(82, 110, 188)

in my css files, so whenever 5 I want to add opacity I just need to rename 4 rgb to rgba and add the opacity value. The 3 advantage is that I don't have to convert 2 the hex value to rgb before being able to 1 add the opacity:

rgba(82, 110, 188, 0.5)

CSS was invented by software developers, not 3 designers. Software developers live and 2 breathe hex. From my old C64 days, I can 1 still read most hex numbers without thinking. A9, anyone?

Various things will accept a single hex 7 value where they may have different ways 6 of entering three decimal values. There's 5 also the fact that it's always 6 characters (or 4 3, admittedly - plus the #) which makes 3 it easier to scan down a list of them.

Just 2 a couple of random thoughts to add to the 1 mix...

Probably a touch of speed when the color 6 is interpreted by a browser. Otherwise some 5 people from design background may know how 4 to compose colors from RGB components when 3 they write code, and some others from programming 2 background are probably more inclined to 1 use HEX values.

HEX is most common due to historical reasons.

Before CSS was common in web development, colors 3 were specified within HTML tags and the 2 most commonly used and supported way to 1 specify a color was to use HEX values.

no valid reason, other than personal preference.

0

Maybe I've done HTML too long, but I find 6 it easier to think in HEX values. A lot 5 of the pre-defined colour palette for HTML 4 maps neatly to HEX values. Using the shortened 3 format also gives you automatic 'web-safe' colours, though 2 this is not really an issue in the days 1 of 32bit colour displays.

I have always preferred HEX in comparison 6 to RGB or HSL simply due to it being easier 5 for me to read while styling.

When it comes 4 to dynamic editing, I would like to use 3 RGB because of the ease of cycling through 2 different colors. This also helps a little 1 when doing CSS gradients.