There are many ways of structuring a natural sequence of tones.

In these examples I chose to start with a basic deep colour, and then lighten it step by step, where each step followed a consistent pattern, keeping the same proportions as I moved up the scale.

Remember that the quantities we have to play with for each color are
- 00, 33, 66, 99, CC, FF

For example, if we start with 003366, each value might move up one step, so the next would be 336699 - 6699CC - 99CCFF . To allow a 'gap' for contrast between background and text, you might need one more

- by extension, "CCFFII", which doesn't exist of course...

in which case you would have to 'cheat' with CCFFFF.

Another pattern would be to keep one colour at zero, like this -

I've used the greatest contrast between the basic text and the background: the visited and unvisited links are nearest the basic text: and the tone nearest the background I haven't used, to make a better contrast... Since it's available, you might think of using it for the active link - the one which shows while you hold the mouse down - but it can be worth having a real contrast for that one, so people know their click is having an effect...

The practicalities are different, depending what you are using to select your colors...

a simple text editor and viewing the result in a browser	a colour wheel	Mac OS8
a gadget that shows you colours if you type in numbers, and gives you numbers if you select colors on the screen

Institute of Baltic Studies - Tartu - Estonia