# Online Color Wheel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989 "2013-11-15T15:45:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/21 "2013-11-17T07:18:50Z")
Ahh. In that case, I’d start with basic [color theory](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_theory) (forget about trying to memorize an infinite list of arbitrarily named hues and tones). For starters the [additive (rgb)](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_color) and [subtractive (cmy[k])](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_color) color models is the foundation of displayed or projected color and printed colors, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/22 "2013-11-17T07:59:50Z")
My head asplode over **cmyk** talking about color models. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/23 "2013-11-17T14:27:20Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > My head asplode over **cmyk** talking about color models. Going on 13 years posting here, and finally a thread for my namesake!\* \*I kid, it’s happened a few times before. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/24 "2013-11-17T15:07:23Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > Since the question has been more or less answered, I’d like to get in an all purpose wish that somewhere in the universe there’s a colour wheel for people like me who can barely dress themselves. That is, I can actually put on the clothes but I’m rubbish at putting ‘outfits’ together. I simply cannot work out what colours go well with each other, so I stick to mostly black pants + some other colour on top. I end up looking a bit like a liquorice allsort but nothing actually clashes. Garanimals (USA) for adults would be a solution. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/25 "2013-11-17T19:40:17Z")
[http://palette.com/news.html](http://palette.com/news.html) This list is the closest I’ve seen to what I’m looking for although with Crayola colors. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/26 "2013-11-19T02:22:01Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Going on 13 years posting here, and finally a thread for my namesake… I’m ignoring everything _ **cmyk** _ says about other Color Spaces. Quick, somebody register as _ **RGB** _ or _ **Mister Munsell** _ … or _ **Professor Pantone**!_ ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/27 "2013-11-19T02:44:16Z")
> [@digs](#): > > or _ **Professor Pantone**!_ You gotta pay him $0.35 every time you quote him. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/28 "2013-11-19T03:11:06Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > There are the traditional [X11 colors](http://cng.seas.rochester.edu/CNG/docs/x11color.html) from olden-time Unix. There are some quite proto-brony names like PeachPuff, MistyRose, and LemonChiffon. Guess nerds really were the same back then as they are now. Isn’t this the same color list that Netscape built into its early HTML rendering engine, so that they could be used as HTML color names? I don’t suppose they are recognized by the official W3 HTML standards, but I would be surprised if the major browsers do not all still recognize them (and few if any other color names). Because of that, this is probably the closest thing we have to a standard, fairly widely recognized (and reasonably lengthy) list of color names. ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Vegetable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Space\_Vegetable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vegetable)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989/29 "2013-11-19T05:14:46Z")
The default X11 color name list, with changes, is part of the official HTML standards. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names) has a list of colors showing which were changed going from one to the other. I don’t think anyone’s mentioned [xkcd’s color name survey](http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/), which is entertaining and educational. (For instance, you will learn that no one can spell fuchsia.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-color-wheel/673989.md?page=1)