Why is the CSS color name named "Tomato" or "Lemon Chiffon"?

ByBen Watkin

Abstract names such as "Mint · Cream", "Peach · Puff", "Navajo · White", etc. which are not understood as to the web color are attached. 141 kinds of "colors" are standardized in the CSS color module, but Ars Technica is closing the secret as to whom the name was hard to understand like "Dodger Blue" for whom.

"Tomato" versus "# FF6347" - the tragicomic history of CSS color names | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/10/tomato-versus-ff6347-the-tragicomic-history-of-css-color-names/

CSS color module · level 4141 kinds of "color" are standardized, and each name, RGB color code, hexadecimal color code is shown in the section "color name".


Looking at the color names in the list and noticing it is not the name "white" "black" like the usual color sample, but "Papaya · Whip" for the pastel orange, "Papaya · Whip" for the pale yellow Lemon · Chiffon "and so on, with an abstract name. Temporarily it is a color name that can be seen as a strange romantic rash, but its history goes back to the 1980s, why the name was given such a name.

The foundation of web color was made in 1984. Developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)X Window System(X 11)With the release of the GUI at that time, the following GUI color list was implemented in X10R3 released in 1986. The list at this time said that 69 color names using two kinds of notation were written like "dark red" and "Dark Red".


Currently used "color name" appeared in earnest in the world when X11R4 was released in 1989. Since the way the colors looked was completely different depending on which machine you used at that time, "It's not" wheat "at all is not wheat". So, in order to answer the voice "I want you to manage the accuracy of color" from users, X11R4 adds a lot of soft neutral colors that do not produce big differences depending on the user environment, and "Papaya · Whip" It was a somewhat abstract name like "Lemon Chiffon" "Peach Puff".

Paul · Layberling who produced color data of X 11 R 4 borrowed those color names from a paint company "Sinclair Paints" which does not exist at the moment. However, because I had borrowed a name without permission and went after thatThe National National Standards InstituteApplication has been rejected, and finally it is said that Mr. Leibling used a color name arbitrarily named himself on Hewlett-Packard's monitor he was using.

Thereafter, programmer John C. Thomas said more bright colors will be implemented in the X Window System. Mr. Laybering worked hard to "avoid confusion due to differences in user environment", but Mr. Thomas said from his colleague "It's frightening to default color of the RGB color name database, especially if you poked a few hours I heard the opinion that it seems like the face color of the person who committed suicide, "and I started thinking that it was pointless to standardize the color names with different appearance by the display.

ByRafale Tovar

At that time, Mr. Thomas had hand in handCrayola crayonA set of 72 colors of crayons called. After thinking, he adopted the name such as "Aquamarine" "Orchid" that I wanted to be attached to crayon.

In the 2000s,The World Wide Web Consortium(W3C)Announced a draft of the CSS 3 color module, which contained color lists created by Leveling and Thomas. Because W3C aims to standardize the technology on the World Wide Web, X11 color names can be incorporated into CSS despite being accidentally born.

However, because it was exposed to the eyes of numerous programmers, the color name of X11 is a critical programmer such as "Gray is darker than dark gray", "There is no standard violet red although there is medium violet red" It will become the point of attack of ours. In 2002, "X11's color name is a damn thing to erase from this world leaving a stain on a wonderful CSS design element, saying that the color name of X11 was" designed "is an insult to the word" design " That is just a garbage. "There were programmers who came out.

Also,Dodger BlueYaNavajoSome people get angry at color names using White, Indian Red and region names. A non-native programmer says, "Please imagine my reaction when seeing the name" Gainsboro "or" Papaya Whip "," only people in a specific cultural sphere do not know the color name It was also a problem.

However, in fact, the color name of X11 can be expressed in hexadecimal color code or RGB color code. These two methods are diagrammatic and objective and are global systems that do not include regionality, so if you do not like the color names originally, you only need to use the code.

Jim F. Falton, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology involved in the development of the X Window System, says, "It was my opinion that most people would not like to use numbers, people said" F5B " I thought that I would not associate with a specific color, so I chose to use a more natural name. "" But not all ideas work fine, "he said.