Editing Indigo (section)

====Origin of "Indigo" as a name for purple in web pages====
Towards the end of the 20th century, purple colors also became referred to as "indigo".  In the 1980s, computer programmers [[Jim Gettys]], Paul Ravelling, John C. Thomas and Jim Fulton produced a list of colors for the [[X Window System|X Window]] Operating System. The color identified as "indigo" was not the color indigo (as generally understood at the time), but was actually a dark purple hue; the programmers assigned it the  [[Web colors|hex code]] #4B0082 {{Colorsample|#4B0082|1}}. This collection of color names was somewhat arbitrary: Thomas used a box of 72 [[Crayola]] crayons as a standard, whereas Ravelling used color swabs from the now-defunct Sinclair Paints company, resulting in the color list for version [[X11 color names#Color name chart|X11]]  of the operating system containing fanciful color names such as "papaya whip", "blanched almond" and "peach puff".  The database was also criticised for its many inconsistencies, such as "dark gray" being lighter than "gray", and for the color distribution being uneven, tending towards reds and greens at the expense of blues.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/10/tomato-versus-ff6347-the-tragicomic-history-of-css-color-names/ | title="Tomato" versus "#FF6347"—the tragicomic history of CSS color names | work=Ars Technica | date=October 11, 2015 | access-date=October 11, 2015 | first=Julianne | last=Tveten | archive-date=29 October 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029182142/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/10/tomato-versus-ff6347-the-tragicomic-history-of-css-color-names/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 1990s, this list which came with version X11 became the basis of the [[HTML]] and [[CSS]] color rendition used in websites and web design. This resulted in the name "Indigo" being associated with purple and violet hues in web page design and graphic design.  Physics author John Spacey writes on the website ''Simplicable'' that the X11 programmers did not have any background in color theory, and that as these names are used by web designers and graphic designers, the name ''indigo'' has since that time been strongly associated with purple or violet.  Spacey writes, "As such, a few programmers accidentally repurposed a color name that was known to civilisations for thousands of years."<ref name="Spacey">{{cite web |last1=Spacey |first1=John |title=19 Types of Indigo |date=19 June 2020 |url=https://simplicable.com/colors/indigo |website=Simplicable |access-date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605223840/https://simplicable.com/colors/indigo |archive-date=2023-06-05 |quote=In 1986 some programmers created a list of color names for a unix system known as X11. Having no background in color theory, they placed indigo as a dark purple. This list was later used by HTML and CSS standards that remain in place to this day. These standards are used by millions of designers and digital artists such that the color name indigo is now strongly associated with dark purple or violet. As such, a few programmers accidentally repurposed a color name that was known to civilizations for thousands of years. ...Note the difference between Web Indigo and Indigo. This standard color name is completely detached from the traditional color. This misrepresentation resulted from the random selection by a programmer working on an operating system in 1986. |url-status=live}}</ref>