CSSConf Oakland 2014 | Ainsley Wagoner: What's in a name? Exploring the origins of CSS color names

Color names are a sort of easter egg of CSS. When we go to plug in styles, most of us already have specific, brand-related hex values that we use, but these 147 colors lay in wait for someone to call them by name and make use of their built-in capabilities. (Mintcream, Navajo White, Blanched Almond) This talk will survey the built-in palette of CSS colors but go further to explore their origins and the implications. Who names them? What is their ancestral lineage? How does a color get added and who decides when to add (for this we will take a look at the case study of Becca Purple) What is the cut-off? Furthermore, what do these colors and names reveal about biases inherent within CSS? AINSLEY WAGONER Ainsley Wagoner is a Visual UX designer in San Francisco and 2014 Code for America Fellow. She spent her childhood putting skittles in rainbow order and has always believed pink & green is the ideal combo. Ainsley loves shaping the visual direction of digital products as well as the details of its implementation. She is a fan of CSS, Illustrator, patterns, vector graphics, Beyoncé and Boston Terriers.