Colors in bold type are permanent (these remain in the Colors palette even if you don't apply them to an object). Color names in light type are temporary. Some colors are editable you can change them, or delete them from the palette. Other colors are non-editable.

Temporary and permanent colors

Colors listed in the Colors palette can be either temporary or permanent:

· Temporary colors appear in light type in the Colors palette.

· Temporary colors are deleted from a document when they are not used. Convert temporary colors to permanent colors to prevent this (see Making temporary colors permanent).

· Permanent colors appear in bold type in the Colors palette. The default permanent colors are Black, White, None, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Red, Green and Blue. Knockout is available for text colors. Permanent colors remain in a document, even if they are not currently used.

Net Safe panel

You display the Netsafe panel by clicking on its tab in the Colors palette:

You apply Netsafe color by selecting the object and clicking on the color swatch in the Netsafe panel. Colors applied to text and boxes are showed outlined in black when the object is selected. Colors cannot be added to the Netsafe panel, but applied colors are added to the Custom palette with their hexadecimal numbers.

Color Palette Popout Menu

The popout menu on the color palette offers the following commands:

New Color

Choosing New Color from the color palette popout menu brings up the Color dialog, which offers the same Netsafe colors as the Netsafe panel. In addition, it allows you to see or edit the RGB color values (using hex values), and give the color a new name. You can also click the Picker button to access the Apple Color Picker and use any one of the options available there to define a new color.

Choosing Other from the color popup menu's elsewhere in Freeway also brings up the Color dialog.

Edit colors

Edit colors brings up the Edit Colors dialog, which can also be accessed from the Edit menu.

Here you can manage the list of Custom colors defined in your document, for example to duplicate or delete an existing custom color.

Color Picker

This brings up the system Color Picker, where you can choose from the options available. Choosing a color in here creates a new permanent color in the Custom color list.

Show Hex

Choosing Show Hex causes Freeway to display the RGB values for the Custom colors in the Custom color panel beside each color, using the Hex value.

Internet Colors

With Internet Colors turned on as it is by default, colors which are specified using non-Netsafe color values (for example, by selecting colors from the system Color Picker) have a checkbox to enable them to automatically match the nearest Netsafe color values.

Applying color

This section explains how to apply color to text and boxes in a Freeway document.

You can color text and boxes by applying:

· existing colors in the document

· new colors you've created or edited

· colors you've imported from another Freeway document

You can use the Custom color and Netsafe color panels in the Colors palette, or Freeway's menus and dialog boxes to apply color.

You can, for example, simply select an object and click on a color in either panel of the Colors palette (if the Colors palette isn't already on the screen, choose Window/Colors):

The Colors palette has four buttons along the top of its window, which you can use to apply color to a box, its background or its text. These buttons are described later on in this chapter.

Applying color to text

The simplest way to apply a color to a text run is to select the text run and choose the color from the Style/Color options or the Colors palette.

You can use this method to make different words in a box appear in different colors. However, if you use this method, note that you may create a new temporary style with each color.

Applying color to a box

Select the box (or with the text cursor in a box, click the Background button at the top of the Colors palette) and choose a color swatch.

When the box is selected, the color is highlighted in the Colors palette. If you select several boxes filled with different colors, all the selected colors appear highlighted in the Colors palette.

Applying color to a box border

Select the box and then click on the Border button in the Colors palette. Click on a color swatch in the Colors palette.

Adding Netsafe colors to your Custom panel

You can add named Netsafe colors to your Custom panel in the Colors palette. This can be done by

· using the Edit Colors dialog box (choose Edit/Colors...) and then click New,

· by choosing Style/Color/Other...

· or by pressing the small arrow on the colors palette and selecting New Color...

· by applying a color to a box or text using the Net Safe panel

Freeway displays the Color dialog box showing the 216 Net Safe colors.

1. Click on the color you want.

2. Enter the name you want to give it in the Name text box.

3. Click OK.

Freeway adds the color swatch with the color's name to the Custom panel. You can apply this color to elements in your document.

Creating a new color

You can use the Apple system Color Picker if it is installed to create a new color and add it to the Custom panel of the palette, or to edit an existing color.

The Color Picker gives you a choice of color models, which allows you to specify colors in slightly different ways.

Displaying the Color Picker

Before you can create a new color other than the Netsafe colors, you need to display the Color Picker. There are three ways you can do this:

· Choose Edit/Colors, then click New

· Choose Style/Colors/Other...

· Click on the arrow at the top of the colors palette and choose New Color... then click on the Picker button

· Click on the arrow at the top of the colors palette and choose Edit Color... then click on the Picker button

· Click on the arrow at the top of the colors palette and choose Color Picker...

The Color Picker window is displayed, showing the available color pickers. To use the different color pickers, click on one of the color model icons in the scrollable area in the left of the Color Picker window:

The following sections explain how to use each of the Freeway supplied color pickers to create a color.

Warning: You cannot specify a color with the same name as one already in the Freeway document. If you try to do this, Freeway displays a warning notice

Editing, duplicating and deleting colors

Once you've created a color in Freeway, you can edit, duplicate or delete it.

Editing a color created in Freeway

You can alter the color mix of an existing editable color:

1. Display the Colors dialog by double-clicking on the color in the list of Custom colors in the Colors palette (or choosing Edit/Colors, selecting the color to edit from the scrolling list and clicking on Edit).

2. Choose a new color.

3. Click OK.

Freeway changes the color in the Colors palette and the menus. Any object or text using the original color is changed to reflect the new color.

Duplicating a color

You can duplicate an existing color as follows:

1. Choose Edit/Colors.

2. Select the color to duplicate from the scrolling list.

3. Click on Duplicate.

Freeway makes a copy of the color and adds it to the bottom of the scrolling list using the original name plus the word 'copy'. Now you can edit the duplicate color (and change its name, if you want). Duplicating a non-editable color allows you to edit the duplicate.

Deleting a color

You can remove a color from the Colors palette:

1. Choose Edit/Colors.

2. Select the color you want to remove from the scrolling list. If the color can be deleted, the Delete button will be active.

Note: You can't change or delete the non-editable colors. These are None, Knockout, Black, Blue, Cyan, Green, Magenta, Red, White and Yellow).

3. Click on Delete. Freeway displays the Choose Color dialog box asking you to select a color from the scrolling list which you want to use in place of the deleted color.

4. Select a color and click OK.

5. Click OK on the Edit Colors dialog box.

Freeway deletes the color from the list. Where the original color has been applied to text or graphics in the document, Freeway substitutes your chosen replacement color.

Importing colors

You can import colors directly from other Freeway documents. Only permanent colors can be imported, so if you want to import a temporary color, make it permanent in the original Freeway document.

Importing colors from a Freeway document

You can import colors from another Freeway document:

1. Choose Edit/Colors. Freeway displays the Edit Colors dialog box.

2. Click on Import.

3. Find and select the document in the File selection dialog box.

4. Click OK.

Freeway imports the colors from the selected document and displays them in the Colors palette as permanent colors. Imported colors are displayed using their original names. If different colors using the same name already exist in the receiving document, the names will not appear and the colors will not be imported. In this case, Freeway displays a warning notice.

If possible, rename the colors in the original document and they will then import correctly.

Editable and non-editable colors

A color which can have its mix altered is considered editable.

Non-editable colors are None, Knockout, Black, Blue, Cyan, Green, Magenta, Red, White and Yellow.

Making temporary colors permanent

To make a temporary color permanent:

1. Choose Edit/Colors.

2. Select the temporary color from the scrolling list.

3. Click on the Edit button. Freeway then displays the Net Safe color palette.

4. Check the Permanent Color box.

5. Click OK.

Freeway changes the color from temporary to permanent and displays its name in bold in the Colors palette. It will not be deleted when it is no longer used.

Hex (Hexadecimal) color and Netsafe color

On the Web, colors are defined in RGB, using a hexadecimal (Base 16) system of numbers. (In Hex, as well as the numbers 0-9, there are six further "numbers" used: the letters A to F represent the numbers 11 to 16.)

Although, red green and blue can be combined using any combination from 0% to 100%, only a few of these millions of possible colors reproduce reliably without dithering on all computer displays. This is why in Web publishing, it's often wise to restrict yourself to the Netsafe system of colors. This system is limited to six possible percentages for either red, green or blue. These are 100%, 80%. 60%, 40%, 20% or 0%.

The hexadecimal numbers which define these percentages are

FF for 100%, CC for 80%, 99 for 60%, 66 for 40%, 33 for 20% and 00 for 0%.

These percentages can also be presented as red, green and blue values. The corresponding values are 255, 204, 153, 102, 51 and 0.

Shown as a table, the hexadecimal numbers, their RGB numbers and corresponding percentages look like this:

Hexadecimal Numbers Percentage

FF 255 100%

CC 204 80%

99 153 60%

66 102 40%

33 51 20%

00 0 0%

Only 216 combinations of the above color values are possible, and these combinations provide the 216 Net Safe colors. Any color composed in RGB using combinations of the above values will be Netsafe and reproduce without dithering.



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