Enabling colors
In current versions (newer than 11.05.2009) of ConTeXt mkiv, colors are enabled by default.
In older versions, colors must be enabled using
\setupcolors[state=start]
Defining Colors
Choosing a color model
- RGB and CMYK are enabled by default. If you want only RGB or only CMYK color, use cmyk=no or rgb=no. Multitone colors see below.
- For spot colors, say spot=yes. To eliminate everything except spot colours, leaving a clean file for professional printing, accompany this with rgb=no,cmyk=no. See spot colours below for more details.
- Normally all colors are defined in RGB and CMYK and get converted if needed.
Using predefined colors: \setupcolor
Colors have identifiers, some of which are grouped in more or less widely known sets. The primary example of these possibly are the named colors of the X Windowing System, a set of RGB vectors. With the growth of the WWW this list of definitions eventually achieved the rank of the default Web colors. For convenience the X11 colors, along with a couple others, are pre-defined in Context in the form of a loadable module.
NB: there are two sets representing the web colors:
xwi
and x11
. The main difference between them
is that the latter defines variations for many keywords.
For instance, instead of having only one color deepskyblue with
xwi
, you get another four colors deepskyblue1,
deepskyblue2 deepskyblue3 and deepskyblue4 with the
x11
set.
(Another technical aspect is that the latter are specified using
hexadecimal RGB values whereas the former rely on decimal values.)
To use them and any of the others listed below, pass the respective definition identifier to \setupcolor:
\setupcolor[x11]
The macro \showcolor pretty prints a the list of all named colors in a definition set.
\showcolor[rgb]
yields several pages of this:
MkIV
The definitions reside in the files prefixed colo-imp-
, to
separate them from the color functionality that is implemented in
colo-xxx.mkiv
.
id | source | description |
---|---|---|
rgb | colo-imp-rgb.mkiv | some simple colors, loaded by default (with translations for the different interface languages!) |
xwi | colo-imp-xwi.mkiv | Xorg color keywords (WWW), defined in decimal RGB |
x11 | colo-imp-x11.mkiv | extended Xorg color keywords (WWW), defined in hex RGB |
ema | colo-imp-ema.mkiv | Emacs colors |
dem | colo-imp-dem.mkiv | color groups and palets for different language interfaces |
MkII
You will find lists of predefined colors in the files colo-xxx.mkii, load them with \setupcolor[xxx].
id | source | description |
---|---|---|
rgb | colo-rgb.mkii | some simple colors, loaded by default (with translations for the different interface languages!) |
x11 | colo-x11.mkii | Xorg-colors (hex) |
xwi | colo-xwi.mkii | Xorg-colors (decimal) |
pra | colo-???.mkii | PRAGMA ADE corporate design (not included in the distribution?) |
ema | colo-ema.mkii | Emacs colors |
Alternatives
You can generate an alternative definition set based on the results of
the xkcd color survey
with the
xcs-colors.lua
script.
Defining colors: \definecolor
\definecolor[blablue][r=.1, g=.1, b=1, c=1, m=.1, y=0, k=0, s=.2] (definition for RGB, CMYK and Grey!). See also Command/definecolor.
\definecolor[blablue][r=.25, g=.1, b=1, c=1, m=.1, y=0, k=0, s=.2] Here's some \color[blablue]{blue text} inbetween! |
Colors with Hexadecimal Numbers
You can also use hexadecimal numers to specify colors. You need to load the hex color module first:
\setupcolor[hex] \definecolor[salmon][h=AB5757] Hey, \color[salmon]{look at that!} |
Choosing a color scheme
There are three basic strategies to select color combinations for a particular design
- Create a color scheme by picking several colors found within the objects to be used (photographs, pictures, etc)
- Create colors derived from those found in the objects to be used
- Create a color scheme based on the message to convey / the psychological effects of color
See for additional help & reference:
- colorschemedesigner.com - Useful site to help choose a color scheme in rgb color space
- Tina Sutton, Bride M Whelan: The Complete Color Harmony. Rockport Publishers (2004). ISBN 978-1592530311 (recommanded in the mailing list)
Using Colors
- Use the color name like [color=blablue] in some \setup... command.
With text
Typeset single text elements with \color[colorname]{nice blue text}:
Three \color[red]{cool} cats |
Alternatively, typeset text elements with \colored[rgb values]{colored text} (suggested on NTG-ConTeXt: [1]):
Three \colored[r=.4, g=.4, b=.9]{colorful} kittens. |
Typeset longer sections with \startcolor[colorname] ... \stopcolor:
\setuppapersize[A6] \starttext \startcolor[orange] \input tufte \stopcolor \stoptext |
In titles
See Titles#Using_colors_in_chapters_and_sections
With frames
\framed[background=color, backgroundcolor=green]{bla} \framed[background=color, backgroundcolor=yellow, corner=00]{bla} |
Background of the page
\setuppapersize[A10] \setupbackgrounds[page][background=color,backgroundcolor=blue] \starttext text \stoptext |
Background of cells in tables
See
In Metapost
Metapost in MkIV is different from MkII and all labels are typeset and colored in TeX, if you want a label use
label(textext("\blue RED"),origin) ;
In TikZ
\usemodule[tikz] \starttext \tikz\shade[ball color=red!40!yellow] (0,0) circle (.15cm); \stoptext |
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