Use colour with discretion

Six primary colours

Enable colour by putting into the preamble.
  • \usepackage[dvips]{color} if using ordinary LaTeX;
  • \usepackage{color} if using pdfLaTeX.
The following, along with black and white, are the primary colours. They are switched in by the command \color{name} with a scope delimited by braces or by the current environment.
  • red
  • green
  • blue
  • cyan
  • yellow
  • magenta

Sixty-six colours

Make the following 66 colours available using options in the request for the color package:
  • [usenames,dvips] for ordinary LaTeX;
  • [usenames,dvipsnames] for pdfLaTeX.
See Src/mystyle.sty for example. These are X11 colours; note: the case is important in the names.

GreenYellow, Yellow, Goldenrod, Dandelion, Apricot, Peach, Melon, YellowOrange, Orange, BurntOrange, Bittersweet, RedOrange, Mahogany, Maroon, BrickRed, Red, OrangeRed, RubineRed, WildStrawberry, Salmon, CarnationPink, Magenta, VioletRed, Rhodamine, Mulberry, RedViolet, Fuchsia, Lavender, Thistle, Orchid, DarkOrchid, Purple, Plum, Violet, RoyalPurple, BlueViolet, Periwinkle, CadetBlue, CornflowerBlue, MidnightBlue, NavyBlue, RoyalBlue, Blue, Cerulean, Cyan, ProcessBlue, SkyBlue, Turquoise, TealBlue, Aquamarine, BlueGreen, Emerald, JungleGreen, SeaGreen, Green, ForestGreen, PineGreen, LimeGreen, YellowGreen, SpringGreen, OliveGreen, RawSienna, Sepia, Brown, Tan, Gray

Three final notes

  1. At the time of writing there are some glitches that may appear when using colour in pdf documents; avoid these glitches by getting and using \usepackage{pdfcolmk} (as in Src/mystyle.sty)
  2. The color package is disabled by using the option monochrome in its request.
  3. Lastly, see the grfguide document in the LaTeX Graphics package for loads more information.
Copyright Tony Roberts, School Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia; prepared January 12, 2009, from site.tex
CRICOS: ??