What Colors Are Needed for a Website Color Palette? How to Choose Colors by Role

There is no universal rule that says a website color palette must contain a fixed number of colors. Instead of deciding the number first, it is usually more practical to list the roles the interface needs—backgrounds, text, actions, states, and so on—then assign colors to those roles. A small site may reuse a compact set, while a site with forms or account features may need additional semantic state and focus colors.

Start with three groups: backgrounds, text, and actions

The first group covers the page background and Surface colors for cards or panels; the second covers headings and body text; the third covers important actions. For example, use off-white ■#F8FAFC for the page background and white ■#FFFFFF for Surface areas. Their contrast ratio is only about 1.05:1, so the surface difference is intentionally subtle. If a card needs a clearer boundary, combine color with spacing, shadow, or a necessary visible border.

For text, one example is dark navy ■#0F172A for headings, dark blue-gray ■#334155 for body text, and slate gray ■#64748B for supporting text. Against white ■#FFFFFF, those pairs provide about 17.85:1, 10.35:1, and 4.76:1 respectively. Lighter supporting text especially needs to be rechecked whenever its background changes.

For the main action, royal blue ■#1D4ED8 with white ■#FFFFFF text provides about 6.70:1 contrast. A supporting action or classification color such as teal ■#0F766E provides about 5.47:1 against white. The important decision is which action has the highest priority, not simply whether a role is named Primary or Secondary.

Add semantic state and focus colors only when the interface needs them

If the site shows errors, success states, warnings, or other status information, add Semantic colors—colors assigned a specific meaning. For example, dark red ■#B91C1C error text provides about 6.47:1 against white, while dark green ■#166534 success text provides about 7.13:1. Do not communicate a warning or state by color alone; pair it with text or an icon.

Keyboard-operable interfaces also need a visible focus treatment. One example is a blue ■#2563EB focus ring, which provides about 5.17:1 contrast against white and about 4.94:1 against the page background ■#F8FAFC. Under WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.2, non-text visual information needed to identify user-interface components or their states requires at least 3:1 contrast against adjacent colors.

Do not treat HueRoll’s 60–30–10 palette as a complete list of every role

HueRoll’s 60–30–10 Palette is useful as a starting point for three large-area roles: “Background / Surface,” “Secondary / Supporting,” and “Primary / Accent.” It does not automatically assign heading text, body text, muted text, error and success colors, focus indicators, or any boundaries the interface may need. A website palette becomes more implementation-ready when it covers not only large-area color balance but also text, actions, and states.

W3C Use of Color requires that color not be the only visual means of conveying information, and WCAG 2.2 requires at least 4.5:1 contrast for normal-size text against its background. In HueRoll, you can adjust colors with three- or six-digit HEX values or the color picker and review tints, shades, palette suggestions, and contrast between the selected color and white or black. HueRoll does not compare arbitrary custom color pairs or automatically determine WCAG AA or AAA conformance, so verify the actual adjacent color combinations separately.