{"id":9203,"date":"2017-10-23T00:01:05","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T07:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=9203"},"modified":"2017-10-24T19:19:06","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T02:19:06","slug":"chuck-norris-the-html-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=9203","title":{"rendered":"Chuck Norris, the HTML Color"},"content":{"rendered":"

A story appeared on StackOverflow<\/a> about how Chuck Norris’ name is an HTML color. It’s funny because, well, Chuck Norris his own superhuman meme<\/a>. But it’s also true because of the way HTML interprets color names.
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\nHTML is the formatting language for web pages. It’s not a programming language, though many mistakenly refer to it as such. HTML sets out the way a page looks. It can be quite complex, especially when coupled with cascading style sheets (CSS) and JavaScript (which is a programming language), or it can be really simple. I once coded all my webpages using Windows Notepad because the HTML codes are easy to use and feedback is immediate.<\/p>\n

In HTML, colors are defined in two ways.<\/p>\n

The nerdy way is to set independent red, green, and blue values for the color. That sounds easy, but HTML uses hexadecimal values in a clutch of 3 or 6 digits. So a pure, red color is HTML color code #FF0000<\/code> or #F00<\/code>. That “number” is interpreted as red.<\/p>\n

The second, easier way is to use a color word. HTML defines specific color words, such as “red” or “green” or “pink,” which you can use instead of the color codes. Click here<\/a> to view HTML color names.<\/p>\n

How “Chuck Norris” becomes a color is in the way HTML interprets color code words. If the word isn’t recognized, HTML slips back into the color code number interpretation. Valid code numbers are 0 through 9 and A through F. In the case of “Chuck Norris” (or any random text) invalid characters are interpreted as value 0. Therefore, “Chuck Norris” is transformed into a color code:<\/p>\n

“Chuck Norris” -> “chucknorris” -> C00C 0000 0000 -> C0 00 00 -> #C00000 -> \"\"<\/p>\n

This conversion doesn’t happy only to the might Mr. Norris. You can type your own name as an HTML color code and see what color you render as.<\/p>\n

Below is a gizmo I coded that lets you type in an HTML color or code — or your name (no spaces) — to see how HTML interprets it. Have fun.<\/p>\n