Why is 'green' in the HTML colour name spec equivalent to #008000?

Question

According to this:

• red is #FF0000
• blue is #0000FF

So what was the reasoning behind making green not equivalent to #00FF00 but instead #008000?

Answer 1

Although #00FF00 is a pure green in the way a monitor displays green light, #008000 is a more natural green, more like green things appear in nature and thus what people expect when they ask for something green.

If a person who wasn't familiar with the RGB color model said "I want the background to be green," I'll bet they'd be expecting something more like a leafy-green #008000 than the electric-lime-green #00FF00.

Answer 2

These colour names are defined that way in the W3C specs as far back as 2001. They probably predate that by a number of years. I'd guess that the real reasons why those names were chosen are now lost in the mists of time. Sometimes we have to say 'Because...'

Answer 3

As others have already stated, #00FF00 is lime green, while #008000 is a more natural green.

For more information on colors and their hex/rgb/cmyk/... values check out these sites:

ColorHexa

Encycolorpedia

RGB Color Codes Chart

Answer 4

Because it is defined like this in the spec.

If you want a keyword for #00ff00, you can use lime.