How to Choose Colors for Your Website

Color sets the mood of your website and guides the eye. A thoughtful palette looks professional; a random one looks amateur. Here's a simple approach.

Start with one main color

Pick a primary brand color, then build around it. A common recipe: one dominant color, one accent, and a set of neutrals (greys) for text and backgrounds.

Use tints and shades

From your main color, create lighter tints and darker shades for hovers, borders and backgrounds. This keeps everything cohesive.

Don't forget accessibility

Text must have enough contrast against its background — aim for a ratio of at least 4.5:1. Low-contrast text is hard to read and fails accessibility standards.

Free color tools

Generate schemes with the Color Palette Generator, build scales with the Color Shades Generator, create backgrounds with the CSS Gradient Generator, and always verify readability with the Color Contrast Checker.