Live data from Hacker News

Splash Is a Colour Format

todepond.com

11–20 of 122 posts

Re: Splash Is a Colour Format

#11

The site doesn't explain--what's the actual point of this? If we are seriously concerned about characters (which is generally silly in a gzipped CSS) why not just use 3-char hex like #a5c?

No, TFA does very deliberately and openly explain what the goal/justification is:

> Splash colours can help you avoid decision paralysis when picking colours. It's an emotional tool that stops you fussing around— trying to pick the "perfect" colour … It also means the user can deal with discrete / individual colour values in the drag-and-drop user interface. They don't have to deal with large numbers at all. Only one to nine

Re: Splash Is a Colour Format

#13
Whenever I needed a color for something digital (website, ...) I would use the Pantone color picker in Photoshop. It had multiple lists of colors (some more vivid, some muted, some thematic - only reds) and I would browse the color I wanted to pick a suitable shade.

I didn't need the Pantone aspect specifically (real world printing), these were strictly digital uses, but I found browsing shade lists much better than trying to use a regular analog color picker (RGB, HSV, ...). Maybe because you see a large color swatch, maybe because seeing 10 different shades at once is and choosing is faster then randomly moving the mouse through the analog picker.

Screenshot: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/how-to-find-and-add-pantone-co...

Re: Splash Is a Colour Format

#14
post #7
post #2

Isn't this just RGB, with 246 of the 256 values removed from each channel?

The point is that quantizing the range makes it easier for humans to choose colors. But there's already the #ABC hex format, which while less intuitive to non-techies has the huge advantage of being well-established.

But it doesn't make it easier for humans to choose colors. For a specific list of detent colors, it reduces the amount you have to memorize relative to full RGB. But to actually reason about colors, you want a non-arbitrary scale; HSV (for instance) gives you hue direction and then you can slide saturation and brightness around.

Re: Splash Is a Colour Format

#18

The site doesn't explain--what's the actual point of this? If we are seriously concerned about characters (which is generally silly in a gzipped CSS) why not just use 3-char hex like #a5c?

No, TFA does very deliberately and openly explain what the goal/justification is: > Splash colours can help you avoid decision paralysis when picking colours. It's an emotional tool that stops you fussing around— trying to pick the "perfect" colour … It also means the user can deal with discrete / individual colour values in the drag-and-drop user interface. They don't have to deal with large numbers at all. Only one…

Ah so let’s avoid analysis paralysis by having only black, as Ford famously ruled for the Model T.

Of course that’s a reductio ad absurdum, but it’s also completely arbitrary to maintain that fewer options is better. The opposite is also equally arbitrary.

Re: Splash Is a Colour Format

#20
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My other question here is, are "R", "G", and "B" channels the best way to reason about color? Isn't HSV more intuitive?

Or HCL? Or LAB? Any of these are more intuitive than RGB.

What is hue zero? That’s green right? Because green is such a common color? Or maybe it’s blue.
Post reply on HN