Greyscales using RRGGBB
How Hex formed// How control Greys using Hex // Substack Text Breakpoint Chart and Hex Numbers
Using Grey Hexadecimals
The hexadecimal (are base-16 or simply hex) is based on RRGGBB. Red, Green and Blue. Computer digits for colors.
In order to represent 1-255 beautiful color nerds had to use two digits for each color Red, Green, Blue, in order to arrive at a number from 0 to 255, multiplying the firs digit by 16 and the adding the second digit to it.
Digits are made with Numbers and with Letters.
In order to get to 16,
0–9: Represent their corresponding values
A–F: Represent the values 10–15
The format for hex codes is #RRGGBB
The first R represents 0 to 15 that multiples by 16,
The second R represents 0 to 15 that is added to the first R, or as nerds like to say, multiplied by 1 and added,
The two numbers are added together, to reach from 0 to 255.1
FFFFFF: Red = 255, Green = 255 and Blue = 255, which added together makes WHITE.
000000: Red = 0, Green = 0 and Blue = 0, which together makes BLACK.
Using 00 as the lowest possible value meaning no light for that hue, and FF as the highest, meaning 255 most light for that HUE:
PURE RED #FF0000 FF for pure red, 00 for no green, 00 for no blue.
PURE GREEN #00FFOO 00 for no red, FF for pure green, 00 for no blue.
PURE BLUE #OOOOFF 00 for no red, 00 for no green, FF for pure blue.
Again, Black and White are the following
PURE BLACK #OOOOOO no color all black
PURE WHITE #FFFFFF pure color all white
HUELESS GREY — ababab
It turns out, that if you use same or nearly same digits, across RRGGBB, you end up with a grey EVERY TIME. In varying degrees of lightness and darkness.
If you have same numbers ab/ab/ab all the way across RRGGBB, it neutralizes the hues and ends up as a pure grey — every time.
Here’s some samples
#dedede: for Background, uses Black lettering
#cccccc: for Background, uses Black lettering
#9a9a9a: for Background, uses White Lettering
SUBSTACK LETTERING
Anything higher, that is written below cdcdcd on the list below, will give you light grey background with Black lettering.
Anything background darker than that, starting with c8c8c8 and going up, gives you white type on a grey background.
Lower the number down to 0, for the first digit, gives you a darker background, the higher the number up to F, gives you a lighter background.
You can use this LINK https://www.sttmedia.com/colorchart-grey to access below chart, which lists hueless grey formulas from FFFFFF all the way down to 000000, where you can copy hex numbers for hueless greys from list online.
Greys with Hues
Greys with a touch of hue — How are they made.
If you make a slight change to SECOND digit in the RR/GG/BB — and the ababab structure otherwise stays exactly the same, you can create a grey with a touch of hue.
That is because first letter is Multiplied by 16, so even one letter change has considerable effect on the light coming in for that hue, but the second letter is only added not multiplied, so its no more than 16 added, and generally keeps the balance across the hues, still relatively stable.
On the following only the SECOND R in the RR is changed.
D is closer to F which is closer to White, background lighter.
DARKER SHADE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F LIGHTER SHADE
#D9DCDC: Black lettering, Background Lighter
C9 is closer to 0, making background darker than D9, so lettering is white.
#C9C7C7: White Lettering, Background Darker
#CDC9CD: White Lettering, Background Darker
And if you change the FIRST letter, say on the middle GG, to 9, so that it reads cd/9d/cd instead of cdc9cd as above, you are no longer in greyscale, adding quite a bit of hue!
Ciao for Now.
It's slightly more complicated than that: when converting from hex to decimal, you must first add 1 to each digit to shift from the range 0-15 to 1-16; then you can multiply each value in the color-pair to get a number between 1 and 256.