Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Color on the Web

It is an inescapable fact of web design that there is no guarantee that users will see the colors on your page the way you do. For some, they will look brighter; for others, darker. Some may see a dither pattern where you see smooth color . This is the nature of designing for a medium that is dependent on computer monitors for final display.

Although you can’t absolutely control the end display of colors on your page, you can understand the ways monitors handle color. This understanding may influence the decisions you make when designing.