在 HTML 页面中可以两种方式指定颜色──以颜色名称或者表示 RGB 颜色值的数字。一个 RGB 颜色值由三个两位十六进制数字组成，分别代表各自的颜色强度。
例如，颜色值 #FF0000 之所以被渲染为红色，是因为红色的值达到了最高值 FF (等于十进制的 255)。
当你使用 !DOCTYPE 声明指定为标准兼容模式时，Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6 和以后版本将忽略不遵从样式表(CSS)级别 1 的样式表声明。根据 CSS 1，以十六进制 RGB 值指定的颜色必须带有前导“#”字符。像“FFFFFF”这样的值将被忽略，而不会被理解为“#FFFFFF”(即白色)，但 Internet Explorer 的先前版本是这么理解的。这影响所有接受颜色值的属性。
注意 尽管这些颜色名称可能不被其它浏览器使用，但 RGB 颜色值应该可以在不同浏览器间正确显示。如果想要为跨越不同浏览器工作的 Web 页指定颜色值，那么应该使用 RGB 颜色值。
下表列出了 Internet Explorer 4.0 支持的颜色。
| aliceblue (#F0F8FF) | antiquewhite (#FAEBD7) | aqua (#00FFFF) | aquamarine (#7FFFD4) |
| azure (#F0FFFF) | beige (#F5F5DC) | bisque (#FFE4C4) | black (#000000) |
| blanchedalmond (#FFEBCD) | blue (#0000FF) | blueviolet (#8A2BE2) | brown (#A52A2A) |
| burlywood (#DEB887) | cadetblue (#5F9EA0) | chartreuse (#7FFF00) | chocolate (#D2691E) |
| coral (#FF7F50) | cornflowerblue (#6495ED) | cornsilk (#FFF8DC) | crimson (#DC143C) |
| cyan (#00FFFF) | darkblue (#00008B) | darkcyan (#008B8B) | darkgoldenrod (#B8860B) |
| darkgray (#A9A9A9) | darkgreen (#006400) | darkkhaki (#BDB76B) | darkmagenta (#8B008B) |
| darkolivegreen (#556B2F) | darkorange (#FF8C00) | darkorchid (#9932CC) | darkred (#8B0000) |
| darksalmon (#E9967A) | darkseagreen (#8FBC8B) | darkslateblue (#483D8B) | darkslategray (#2F4F4F) |
| darkturquoise (#00CED1) | darkviolet (#9400D3) | deeppink (#FF1493) | deepskyblue (#00BFFF) |
| dimgray (#696969) | dodgerblue (#1E90FF) | firebrick (#B22222) | floralwhite (#FFFAF0) |
| forestgreen (#228B22) | fuchsia (#FF00FF) | gainsboro (#DCDCDC) | ghostwhite (#F8F8FF) |
| gold (#FFD700) | goldenrod (#DAA520) | gray (#808080) | green (#008000) |
| greenyellow (#ADFF2F) | honeydew (#F0FFF0) | hotpink (#FF69B4) | indianred (#CD5C5C) |
| indigo (#4B0082) | ivory (#FFFFF0) | khaki (#F0E68C) | lavender (#E6E6FA) |
| lavenderblush (#FFF0F5) | lawngreen (#7CFC00) | lemonchiffon (#FFFACD) | lightblue (#ADD8E6) |
| lightcoral (#F08080) | lightcyan (#E0FFFF) | lightgoldenrodyellow (#FAFAD2) | lightgreen (#90EE90) |
| lightgrey (#D3D3D3) | lightpink (#FFB6C1) | lightsalmon (#FFA07A) | lightseagreen (#20B2AA) |
| lightskyblue (#87CEFA) | lightslategray (#778899) | lightsteelblue (#B0C4DE) | lightyellow (#FFFFE0) |
| lime (#00FF00) | limegreen (#32CD32) | linen (#FAF0E6) | magenta (#FF00FF) |
| maroon (#800000) | mediumaquamarine (#66CDAA) | mediumblue (#0000CD) | mediumorchid (#BA55D3) |
| mediumpurple (#9370DB) | mediumseagreen (#3CB371) | mediumslateblue (#7B68EE) | mediumspringgreen (#00FA9A) |
| mediumturquoise (#48D1CC) | mediumvioletred (#C71585) | midnightblue (#191970) | mintcream (#F5FFFA) |
| mistyrose (#FFE4E1) | moccasin (#FFE4B5) | navajowhite (#FFDEAD) | navy (#000080) |
| oldlace (#FDF5E6) | olive (#808000) | olivedrab (#6B8E23) | orange (#FFA500) |
| orangered (#FF4500) | orchid (#DA70D6) | palegoldenrod (#EEE8AA) | palegreen (#98FB98) |
| paleturquoise (#AFEEEE) | palevioletred (#DB7093) | papayawhip (#FFEFD5) | peachpuff (#FFDAB9) |
| peru (#CD853F) | pink (#FFC0CB) | plum (#DDA0DD) | powderblue (#B0E0E6) |
| purple (#800080) | red (#FF0000) | rosybrown (#BC8F8F) | royalblue (#4169E1) |
| saddlebrown (#8B4513) | salmon (#FA8072) | sandybrown (#F4A460) | seagreen (#2E8B57) |
| seashell (#FFF5EE) | sienna (#A0522D) | silver (#C0C0C0) | skyblue (#87CEEB) |
| slateblue (#6A5ACD) | slategray (#708090) | snow (#FFFAFA) | springgreen (#00FF7F) |
| steelblue (#4682B4) | tan (#D2B48C) | teal (#008080) | thistle (#D8BFD8) |
| tomato (#FF6347) | turquoise (#40E0D0) | violet (#EE82EE) | wheat (#F5DEB3) |
| white (#FFFFFF) | whitesmoke (#F5F5F5) | yellow (#FFFF00) | yellowgreen (#9ACD32) |
