CSS Colors don't show up correctly on some computers. [**resolved**]

I got an e-mail on Sunday about one of my sites Stating that the black text on the dark blue background made it really difficult to read.

I'll bet. I couldn't even fathom reading black text on a dark blue background, much less actually using that on a website. None of the websites I've ever built have had that. I started thinking this woman was a crackpot. In particular because this was the website she was referring to:

AudubonSymphony.org

From my perspective, the background was yellow, like it should have been. I started showing it to some co-workers. I actually found a user who saw the blue background.

I was shocked. I thought to myself how did you do that? Then he told me he was using a MAC. I asked him to look at it on his PC and see if he got the same result. He got the yellow background on his PC (both using IE5).

I'm guessing that this is a MAC issue, perhaps with CSS.Does anybody know why this might happen.

(before you answer, I already know that I didn't use a "safe" color. theoretically, those colors should dither, not change drastically, right?)

It depends on how the browser handles colors and css.

I think cander is right... it's up to the OS to determine if it dithers the color, or it simply tries to find a "best fit" color, or black, if it can't. I'm guessing that's what's happening here. It can't figure out the right color to display, so it switched to black. I'd say try to use a "web safe color" and see if the problem clears up. If it does, that's most likely the problem. If it doesn't check the browser settings and see if there is a setting that prevents CSS from being used properly.

Nice site tho....

Even dithering, I should get something close, not violently off, you know?

Supposedly IE5 on a MAC should have CSS2 implemented. The truth is, not quite fully.

What I've discovered through a little investigative work is that you can't use RGB values when specifying colors in stylesheets if your target audience is using a MAC. For example:

Code:

---

<STYLE>

body {
    background-color: #FFE796;
    color: #00602D;
}

</STYLE>

---

will produce accurate results, but

Code:

---

<STYLE>

body {
    background-color: RGB(255,231,150);
    color: RGB(0,96,45);
}

</STYLE>

---

produces this

That's strange, what's stranger is that RGB was actually part of CSS1 so you'd think that it would be implemented fully.

Then again, Cander is right, it is up to the OS/Browser how it renders it.