title: Are web-safe colors still relevant?
body: <p>Since the vast majority of monitors are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors#Web-safe_colors" rel="noreferrer">16-bit color or more, including mobile devices</a>, does it make sense to even consider web-safe colors when choosing color schemes?  Or is it something that ought to be relegated to history as a piece of trivia?</p>
  
  <p>For those of you that don't know what web-safe colors are:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Another set of 216 color values is commonly considered to be the "web-safe" color palette, developed at a time when many computer
    displays were only capable of
    displaying 256 colors. A set of colors
    was needed that could be shown without
    dithering on 256-color displays; the
    number 216 was chosen partly because
    computer operating systems customarily
    reserved sixteen to twenty colors for
    their own use; it was also selected
    because it allows exactly six shades
    each of red, green, and blue (6 × 6 ×
    6 = 216).</p>
    
    <p>The list of colors is often presented
    as if it has special properties that
    render them immune to dithering. In
    fact, on 256-color displays
    applications can set a palette of any
    selection of colors that they choose,
    dithering the rest. These colors were
    chosen specifically because they
    matched the palettes selected by the
    then leading browser applications.  <sup><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors#Web-safe_colors" rel="noreferrer">[Wikipedia]</a></sup></p>
  </blockquote>