X11 colors are a standard set of color names that are defined in the X Window System used in Unix-like operating systems. The X11 color names provide a common vocabulary for software developers to use to specify colors in a consistent and portable way. There are 140 named colors in the X11 colors list, representing a wide gamut of hues, shades, and tones.
Origin of X11 Colors
The X11 color list was originally defined in the X11 protocol in 1987 by the X Consortium, the group that developed and maintained the core X Window System technologies. It became a standard so that X11 applications could programmatically refer to colors like “red” or “navy” without needing to know their exact RGB values. This made color handling much simpler for developers.
The 140 colors were chosen to be both useful and sufficiently distinct from each other. They derived from multiple sources, including colors common on Web pages at the time, canonical color names, and colors from systems like Mac OS.
X11 Color Names and Values
Each X11 color name corresponds to a specific RGB value. For example:
- red = #FF0000
- lime = #00FF00
- blue = #0000FF
The RGB value defines the red, green, and blue component values on a scale from 00 to FF (hexadecimal) that produce the desired color when combined. This allows for over 16 million possible colors.
There are basic color names for the colors of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink – plus gray, white, and black. Additional shades are provided, like gold, silver, and scarlet.
Other common color names are included, such as brown, maroon, cyan, magenta, lavender, and turquoise. Some whimsical colors are present too, including pinky and zombie.
X11 Color Categories
The X11 colors are loosely grouped into categories:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Reds | Red, crimson, firebrick, maroon, etc. |
| Oranges | Orange, darkorange, coral, salmon, etc. |
| Yellows | Yellow, gold, goldenrod, khaki, etc. |
| Greens | Green, lime, forestgreen, olivedrab, etc. |
| Cyans | Cyan, aqua, teal, aquamarine, etc. |
| Blues | Blue, navy, royalblue, steelblue, etc. |
| Purples | Purple, violet, plum, orchid, etc. |
| Pinks | Pink, lightpink, hotpink, palevioletred, etc. |
| Whites | White, snow, ghostwhite, whitesmoke, etc. |
| Grays | Gray, dimgray, darkgray, gainsboro, etc. |
| Browns | Brown, chocolate, sienna, tan, etc. |
This categorization provides a sense of how the colors relate to each other and the different hues they represent.
Uses of X11 Colors
The X11 colors serve several useful purposes:
- Allow consistent color name references across different applications and systems using X
- Provide color names that are more meaningful than hex codes
- Enable basic color palettes for UI themes, graphics, and documents
- Map to closely matched system-dependent color capabilities
- Provide colors that can degrade gracefully to monochrome displays
Some example uses include:
- Defining colors in CSS stylesheets for web pages
- Changing default interface colors for applications
- Standard colors for plot lines in graphing and chart software
- Simple background or text colors in office documents
- Programmatic colors for software and game development
The X11 standard ultimately helped improve the portability of color definitions across platforms.
X11 Color Lists
The full list of X11 color names is:
| Color Name | Hex Value |
|---|---|
| indianred | #CD5C5C |
| lightcoral | #F08080 |
| salmon | #FA8072 |
| darksalmon | #E9967A |
| lightsalmon | #FFA07A |
| crimson | #DC143C |
| red | #FF0000 |
| firebrick | #B22222 |
| darkred | #8B0000 |
| pink | #FFC0CB |
| lightpink | #FFB6C1 |
| hotpink | #FF69B4 |
| deeppink | #FF1493 |
| mediumvioletred | #C71585 |
| palevioletred | #DB7093 |
| coral | #FF7F50 |
| tomato | #FF6347 |
| orangered | #FF4500 |
| darkorange | #FF8C00 |
| orange | #FFA500 |
| gold | #FFD700 |
| yellow | #FFFF00 |
| lightyellow | #FFFFE0 |
| lemonchiffon | #FFFACD |
| lightgoldenrodyellow | #FAFAD2 |
| papayawhip | #FFEFD5 |
| moccasin | #FFE4B5 |
| peachpuff | #FFDAB9 |
| palegoldenrod | #EEE8AA |
| khaki | #F0E68C |
| darkkhaki | #BDB76B |
| lavender | #E6E6FA |
| thistle | #D8BFD8 |
| plum | #DDA0DD |
| violet | #EE82EE |
| orchid | #DA70D6 |
| fuchsia | #FF00FF |
| magenta | #FF00FF |
| mediumorchid | #BA55D3 |
| mediumpurple | #9370DB |
| rebeccapurple | #663399 |
| blueviolet | #8A2BE2 |
| darkviolet | #9400D3 |
| darkorchid | #9932CC |
| darkmagenta | #8B008B |
| purple | #800080 |
| indigo | #4B0082 |
| slateblue | #6A5ACD |
| darkslateblue | #483D8B |
| mediumslateblue | #7B68EE |
| greenyellow | #ADFF2F |
| chartreuse | #7FFF00 |
| lawngreen | #7CFC00 |
| lime | #00FF00 |
| limegreen | #32CD32 |
| palegreen | #98FB98 |
| lightgreen | #90EE90 |
| mediumspringgreen | #00FA9A |
| springgreen | #00FF7F |
| mediumseagreen | #3CB371 |
| seagreen | #2E8B57 |
| forestgreen | #228B22 |
| green | #008000 |
| darkgreen | #006400 |
| yellowgreen | #9ACD32 |
| olivedrab | #6B8E23 |
| olive | #808000 |
| darkolivegreen | #556B2F |
| mediumaquamarine | #66CDAA |
| darkseagreen | #8FBC8F |
| lightseagreen | #20B2AA |
| darkcyan | #008B8B |
| teal | #008080 |
| aqua | #00FFFF |
| cyan | #00FFFF |
| lightcyan | #E0FFFF |
| paleturquoise | #AFEEEE |
| aquamarine | #7FFFD4 |
| turquoise | #40E0D0 |
| mediumturquoise | #48D1CC |
| darkturquoise | #00CED1 |
| cadetblue | #5F9EA0 |
| steelblue | #4682B4 |
| lightsteelblue | #B0C4DE |
| powderblue | #B0E0E6 |
| lightblue | #ADD8E6 |
| skyblue | #87CEEB |
| lightskyblue | #87CEFA |
| deepskyblue | #00BFFF |
| dodgerblue | #1E90FF |
| cornflowerblue | #6495ED |
| royalblue | #4169E1 |
| blue | #0000FF |
| mediumblue | #0000CD |
| darkblue | #00008B |
| navy | #000080 |
| midnightblue | #191970 |
| cornsilk | #FFF8DC |
| blanchedalmond | #FFEBCD |
| bisque | #FFE4C4 |
| navajowhite | #FFDEAD |
| wheat | #F5DEB3 |
| burlywood | #DEB887 |
| tan | #D2B48C |
| rosybrown | #BC8F8F |
| sandybrown | #F4A460 |
| goldenrod | #DAA520 |
| darkgoldenrod | #B8860B |
| peru | #CD853F |
| chocolate | #D2691E |
| saddlebrown | #8B4513 |
| sienna | #A0522D |
| brown | #A52A2A |
| maroon | #800000 |
| white | #FFFFFF |
| snow | #FFFAFA |
| honeydew | #F0FFF0 |
| mintcream | #F5FFFA |
| azure | #F0FFFF |
| aliceblue | #F0F8FF |
| ghostwhite | #F8F8FF |
| whitesmoke | #F5F5F5 |
| seashell | #FFF |
