Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with colors

How to get Word links to work like on Wikipedia?

freddymungo — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:47:34 -0800

How could one change the colors of links in a Microsoft Word document? I'm using Office 2007, if it makes a difference. As it is, any link I insert is blue and when it's been clicked on it turns purple. Can I edit these colors like I could with CSS on an HTML document?

Secondly, is it possible for links pointing to files that don't exist to have a special color like red, like Wikipedia does when there's a link but no matching entry yet? All these files would be Word documents.

Thanks in advance!

Colors in Movies and Television

Jimmy Havok — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:35:04 -0800

I watch a lot of movies, and I have noticed that in modern movies, almost every shot has a very restricted palette of two colors. Could someone tell me when this practice became standard? I was watching Twin Peaks last night, and there was a pair of shots that were particularly interesting, because in one, the dominant colors were orange and blue, then, without a cut, one actor leaves, another comes into the shot, and the colors shift to a range of brown and black. The actors moved to cover up the orange elements that still showed from the earlier exchange. So that places the practice to at least 20 years ago.

What color tie with a Dark Plum Suit?

NYScott — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:40:51 -0800

My brown suit looks more like a dark plum color; need suggestions for shirt & tie colors... I bought the suit several years ago for $75 on Overstock.com, put it in a closet, and forgot about it until recently. The labels and tags say it's brown, but it looks like a dark plum color. I didn't realize that until after having it altered & dry cleaned, and saw it in sunlight this afternoon. It's still a nice suit, and I do like the color, but when I took it outside & tried to match a tie to it, I came up empty.

SOOO, I'm looking for tie suggestions (colors, patterns). A white shirt can always be worn with any color suit, but I'm open to shirt-color suggestions, too.

The suit looks like this one (mine is also a CK, but I don't think this is the exact same one).

Thanks!
.

Roses are red & violets are also red

selton — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:11:02 -0800

Does everyone categorise shades of colours in the same way? I'm interested in the way shades of colours are bundled together in different cultures/languages. An example: The logo above this question: Ask (green) Meta (blue) Filter (yellow).

Within the Google logo there are also blue, green and yellow (the "G"s, the "L" and the 2nd "o").

The blues, greens and yellows used aren't the same shades, but if I was asked "what colour is the Google L and what colour is Ask?", I'd have to say both are indeed green.

1. Would someone from any other culture say that the Google L is "x" and the Ask is "y" ?

2. Would someone from any other culture say that the 1st google "o" and the 2nd "o" are just a different shade of the same colour?

What color is St. Charles Place in Monopoly?

newper — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:00:23 -0800

What color is St. Charles Place in Monopoly? Recently, my fiancee and I have been playing Monopoly Deal (a bit random and mindless, but entertaining game.) During one of the games, I mentioned that I had all the properties of a certain color. She laughed at the suggestion, even though I had those properties face up in front of me. A brief discussion followed, after which we both agreed that the St. Charles/States/Virginia property set indeed were a certain color; we just differed (significantly IMHO) as to what the actual color was! Several discussions have followed, along with much polling of family and friends, but a conclusive end to the argument has yet to be reached. So as not to taint the hive mind, I will not name any specific colors, but my question for you is this: what is the color of St. Charles Place (Pall Mall, UK Version), in Monopoly?

a sartorial color question

bookwibble — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:59:42 -0800

What colors go with maroon? I'm looking to pair a maroon/burgundy-ish top that has black trim with a skirt. I'm looking at this skirt in one of the three colors listed.

I'm really bad when it comes to matching colors, so which one of the three do you think would go best with the top? If none of them do, which colors would?

Thanks so much!

Optoma HD70 projector flickering crazy colors, then whimpering out

icetaco — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:15:18 -0800

Optoma HD70 projector flickering crazy colors, then whimpering out - just over a year old, with a brand new bulb installed 6 months ago -- tech support not very helpful. Anyone have ideas, or sympathy at least? I live in LA, but it's not even hot enough to overheat the lamp yet. I am getting an amber lamp light however, and customer service says it's the lamp. But they just replaced it, and they're expensive! Warranty no longer an option. Hmmm...

What color text on what color background maximizes screen readability while minimizing eyestrain?

Joe Beese — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:26:37 -0800

What color text on what color background maximizes screen readability while minimizing eyestrain? I've probably seen a dozen different answers to this question. The green-on-yellow suggested by this study seems like an especially poor choice.

What does "triple-black" mean in the context of car finishes?

nohat — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:34:55 -0800

What does "triple-black" mean in the context of car finishes? I watched this video from The New York Times about "black cars" and there was repeated mention of "triple-black" but it's never really explained how "triple-black" is different from regular black. What exactly is meant by "triple-black"?

Bold Colors and White Trim...Name This Trend

Smarson — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:16:28 -0800

What is this interior painting trend I see before me? Mrs. Smarson and I have been in the housing market for the last six months and are finally set to close on a house (YIPEEE!!!). We're currently in the midst of the"what colors do we want to paint the bedrooms, living room, kitchen, etc.?" discussion. The house is a bit older and we're hoping to bring it into the 21st century somewhat with a more modern-ish paint job. We both like some of the styles inside the newer townhouses we toured where the trend seemed to be solid colors (sometimes neutrals like taupe, mocha, beige and sometimes brighter reds, greens, and blues) with white trim. Examples here, here, and here.

Is this a nameable trend? Is there any kind of formula to it? Really I'm just looking for terms/phrases to put me on the right track to finding more examples.

More examples: Here, here, here, here, here, here, and here

Different Whites in the Bathroom?

Davidissimo — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:04:46 -0800

I want to buy a sink for my bathroom. The sink I want is an American Standard. The toilet I already bought is a Kohler. Both are listed as white, but I can't tell if the whites match. Any one know a good resource for checking this out? I could go to the Depot, but they don't have exactly the sink I'm looking for, so I will probably have to do a internet faith order.

What is the best approach to reproducible color management?

teem — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:08:23 -0800

What is the best approach to color management? I only just realised that how I see my photos in iPhoto, Photoshop, and Safari isn't how the majority of people on the net are seeing them? What is the best setup for consistent color management that still looks good? Example: Smitten Kitchen versus Use real butter. Both food blogs (neither one mine) look great in Safari, but in Firefox Use real butter's pictures lose saturation, while Smitten Kitchen's remain brilliant.

What combination of setups should I use in my camera, iPhoto, Photoshop, and browser in order to color manage like Smitten Kitchen?

I read This previous question, but was keen to know if any recommendations have changed now that 2 years have passed.

Help, visited messages within Gmail won't change colors.

debu — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:05:57 -0800

I have Firefox 3 color options set so that visited links turn a dark Grey when clicked, every site seems to work with this but the sender and subject lines in Gmail.. What's strange is the links on the left hand side of the Gmail page (Inbox, starred, sent mail, drafts, etc ) go dark when clicked on. Does anyone know if Google uses some special CSS or something on the right hand side, can this be overridden so the visited links will turn the Grey I have checked?

Color generated 3D effects on screen,just me?

spacefire — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:01:06 -0800

Why does red text on black background appears 'closer to me' than green text on black background, when the two text elements are next to each-other? Other combinations yield all kinds of different 'distances'. Just curious, what causes this effect? I wear glasses or contacts and am astigmatic in the left eye.

Going blue in the face over black

djgh — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:07:51 -0800

How to make InDesign export colours properly? I have an InDesign document, and on the master I have made a rectangle the size of the page, in black.

Whenever I export to PDF, this black rectangle turns grey.

I've dealt with the before, I just can't remember how - I've tried turning all image compression off, but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

Any help appreciated!

How to make MS Office Mail Merge create varied colored boxes (or similar effect)

DetonatedManiac — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:54:34 -0800

I need to do something very specific with Mail Merge (I think thats the best way to do it) but I have no idea how. Basically I want to take info from a spreadsheet and convert it into a variable number of different colored boxes of a constant size in a document. I am working on making a Board Game prototype.

I need to make cards that have on them from 1 to 5 boxes that must be 1cm by 1cm. The data in the spreadsheet will dictate the number of boxes and the fill color of the boxes. The spreadsheet data will look something like this (with r = red, bl = blue etc)

r - bl- br
r - y
w - r - y - bl

I have used mail merge before some, but I don't know how to elegantly do what I am trying to do. Any advice or alternate methodologies appreciated.

By the way, all of this (the mail merge "code" and final product) has to fit into a 3in by 2in space... which could be a pain since when I have used mail merge in the past the little <>> brackets made text that needed to fit into tight spaces get thrown off (if anyone knows what I am talking about)

What color setting did I break in Photoshop?

bullitt 5 — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:16:55 -0800

In Photoshop, all my colors appear in the wrong hue--sky blue shows up as bright pink, green shows up as yellow, red shows up as green. This problem is true for .jpegs, .gifs, and .psd files. I'm running Photoshop 6.0 in Windows XP SP2.

The problem surfaced a while back, but I'm now completing a project, and it's fraying my last nerve!

Any thoughts on which setting I accidentally tweaked? Thanks!

Aspens in New Mexico?

1f2frfbf — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:35:45 -0800

Amateur photographers want to find aspens in New Mexico. I will be visiting my father in Las Cruces, NM on the first week of October. We recently read in the National Geographic about the decline in Aspen populations, so we'd like to stage our own "Last Chance to See" trip. What's the best/closest place to go see a stand of aspen in a natural environment (ie. National or State Park, National Forest, etc), and how far would we have to go to find then in fall color?

Color me puzzled. Very.

raheel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:05:42 -0800

How do I setup color profiles on my Macbook Pro? Frighteningly long description inside. Lots of frustration setting up a color profile on my Macbook Pro through the Calibration option in Display Preferences. Some issues:

- I am "somewhat" color blind, where the qualifier means that I have trouble identifying (only some) shades of some colors apart — can't tell apart some yellows from some greens, browns and greens. (what's up with that anyway?) So playing Frenzic on some color profiles I can't tell apart the yellow pieces from the green, on some I have no problem.

- How do I choose/build a color profile properly for my screen? Any definitive downloadable profiles somewhere? Any novice-friendly literature on the subject?

OK, back to Frenzic.

Help me paint my apartment

|n$eCur3 — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:06:54 -0800

Apartment therapy: I'd rather not spend much time when I move out to mask my paint job in order to return its color to an institutional off-white ick. Which colors are the easiest to mask with minimal priming / effort? And how much will it cost? My apartment walls need to be white when I move out, as they are now. In order to maintain my own sanity and to personalize an otherwise bland space, I'd like to add some color for now. Which colors of paint should I use / avoid? And how much will it cost? And will it be worth the effort? What am I missing? Can you idiot proof my plan, below?

Color:
Obviously, black and red seem out of the question, but is there a way to see a palate of colors that all seem to meet this criteria and are complimentary to each other?

Methods and Materials:
My first inclination is to leave the ceilings white and just paint the walls (I love this look). Additionally, at least the bathroom and probably the kitchen will need special oil based paint. I will need a roller and a brush, some tape plastic throws and several trays.

Price:
My apartment is under 500sq ft, so I am assuming that a gallon and change of paint will probably do the entire space (one coat minus ceilings). Ballpark total for paint and tools = $100 now + $150 (prime included) when I move out for everything.

Does this seem like a reasonable estimate / plan?

a greener shade of pale

yonation — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:57:51 -0800

web colors question: using separate images for the rounded corners of a CSS div makes the main body and the corners different colors, although in photoshop they are identical... I have a DIV with text in it. this DIV has a background set to the exact color I want (#bed814). Now, i found a javascript (here) to make rounded corners, and have created PNGs with the rounded corners the exact same color in photoshop.

in Firefox (on PC and Web) the corners and box appear identical. In Safari, and perhaps IE, the corners are noticeably a different shade of green. What is going on?

How can I extract RGB from an ACT?

ciocarlia — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:15:37 -0800

How can I automatically create a list of the RGB values in an ACT (color table) file? I need to create a list of 256 color values included in an ACT file. I can open the file in Photoshop or Fireworks and see all the colors it contains, but I need a list containing all the RGB value.

I could manually document all of the values by reviewing the palettes in Photoshop, but I'd prefer an automated means of extracting the RGB values.

Degradation of old prints

hodyoaten — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:42:17 -0800

I just scanned in some 1970s-1980s family pictures (on print paper). Some of the colors seem washed out. Is there an easy way to improve the colors a bit? With some pictures (notably the ones using Fujifilm in the late 1980s) it seems there's a slight lean to the blue side of the spectrum, and with others (like older 110 prints) the blues are weak and the saturation is low. I think the colors were never all that good to begin with back in the 1980s, but they definitely appear to have shifted since then.

I tried playing with hue controls but all I get is psychedelic or technicolor looks.

Is there any easy way to make my pictures more lifelike again? I'm guessing that as the paper degrades, the spectrum falls off or shifts according to some sort of semi-predictable curve and it would be easy to compensate for this. I use an ancient PaintShop program but have access to PhotoShop 7.

Also are there any resources that talk about how the spectrum of various prints degrade over time?

Why is a color spectrum nicely represented as a circular wheel?

cmiller — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:04:50 -0800

In the continuum of visible-light colors that makes a rainbow, we have red, orange, ... blue, indigo, and violet. But aestheticists tend to join the two ends together to make a "color wheel". They use this to predict pairs, trios, or quads of colors that are symmetrically placed in the wheel and therefore look nice or bad together. But, why does the continuum map to a circle at all? Red down to violet describe the visible colors we humans can see. But, suppose we could see slightly "lower" than red, infrared. Would that fit into our color wheel well? How would that affect the colors we think of as "complimentary" -- which were previously directly across from each other in the wheel, like at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, but now with infrared wedged in are now at 9 and 4?

Stated another way, suppose we couldn't see red at all. Would we think that violet and orange merge together naturally? Why or why not?

(My first Ask MeFi question! Be gentle!)

Which sites use these colors?

ejoey — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 22:16:52 -0800

Which websites use color schemes similiar to this ?