Learn the difference between Goldenrod and Corn Field with Name That Color
Have you ever known exactly what color you wanted to use but had trouble describing it to another person? Name That Color lets you pick a color, then offers you its name, hexadecimal value, and RGB settings.
Have you ever known exactly what color you wanted to use to paint a room but had trouble describing it to another person or finding it in a paint catalog? How about finding the hexadecimal code for adding a specific color to your Web site?
For those of us hue-challenged Web users who can't tell Kenyan Copper from Korma, Chirag Mehta has created a very cool Web application for determining a name for any color you want to use, as well as its hexadecimal and RGB values.
Simply and accurately titled Name That Color, the Web-based application consists of a color wheel with a tint/shade box in the middle. Combine both input tools to specify the exact color you want, and that color's name, hex value, and RGB values will appear on the right. The larger outer box will display the color you've selected, while a smaller square inside that box will show the actual color of the closest named match.
For color-name sources, Mehta used Wikipedia, Crayola, and other color-name dictionaries such as in this extensive list from Aubrey Jaffer. You can learn the name of a specific hue by picking it on the color wheel; or vice versa, select any of the 1,500+ names from a drop-down menu to see what each looks like.
The names, of course, are where much confusion can occur. Even though you can use Name That Color to determine that you want to paint your kitchen Manhattan, your roommate won't likely know what the heck Manhattan looks like. At the least, however, you can slap Manhattan down as a background color (#F5C999) on a Web page and let him have a look.