Color Format Guide
Designers use HEX in CSS, printers use CMYK, web animators use HSL for easy hue rotation, and JavaScript developers work with RGB arrays. Our converter makes switching between them instant.
1. What is HEX color?
Hexadecimal color uses base-16 numbers (0-F) to represent Red, Green, Blue channels as 3 pairs: #RRGGBB. #FF0000 = pure red.
2. What is HSL better for than HEX?
HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) is easier to reason about visually. To make a color 20% lighter, just increase L by 20 — impossible to do intuitively with HEX.
3. When do I use CMYK?
CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key/Black) is used for physical print design. Digital screens use additive RGB; printers use subtractive CMYK.
4. Why does CMYK look different from screen colors?
RGB screens can display colors outside the printable CMYK gamut (very vivid neons). Conversion involves gamut mapping which may slightly shift hue.
5. What does the Tailwind arbitrary value do?
It generates a Tailwind CSS arbitrary value class like text-[#6C3AE8] that you can use directly in JSX without configuring tailwind.config.js.