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In color theory, a color value is actually a shade of lightness. IT professionals or others might use the terms “lightness” and “color value” interchangeably. Color values are often presented in a chart or graph to help developers or others to choose from various specific shades of color for the purposes of applying to visual projects.
A color value scale starts with light and ends with dark. Other categories in between might include light/medium, medium and medium/dark. Again, color values for digital projects are commonly represented on a digital graph, scale or palate for users to choose from. In addition to color values, users can add differing amounts of red, green or blue, or other primary colors to create secondary color hues.
Color values are important in providing precise choices in the vast color scale that became possible with the hardware of the 1990s. Prior to that time, digital color was mostly confined to a few individual primary colors. The rapid advancement of color display technology has led to much more emphasis on applying specific color values to displays.