A light cyan, black text passes AA
What color is powderblue?
powderblue is a light cyan: #b0e0e6 in hex, rgb(176 224 230). Black text on it reaches 14.65:1, passing WCAG AAA. Recolor (recolor.page) shows it on a real page below.
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| Format | Value |
|---|---|
| Keyword | powderblue |
| Hex | #b0e0e6 |
| RGB | rgb(176 224 230) |
| HSL | hsl(187 52% 80%) |
| OKLCH | oklch(87.5% 0.050 205.7) |
| Nearest Tailwind color | sky-200 #b8e6fe, 0.035 away in OKLab |
| White text | 1.43:1: AA fails, AAA fails, large text fails |
| Black text | 14.65:1: AA passes, AAA passes, large text passes |
About powderblue
In OKLCH terms powderblue has a lightness of 87.5%, a chroma of 0.050 and a hue of 205.7 degrees, a light cyan to the eye.
HSL calls its lightness 80%, OKLCH 87.5%: 8 points between a formula and a measure of what the eye sees. Among the CSS keywords, lightblue (#add8e6) comes closest at 0.022 in OKLab, close enough to stand in for it in a sketch.
For text, powderblue wants black: 14.65:1 clears even AAA's 7:1, and white at 1.43:1 fails AA. In the hue-sorted table of named colors it sits between cyan and lightblue.
In Tailwind CSS 4.3.3 the nearest default color is sky-200 (#b8e6fe), 0.035 away in OKLab; for the exact color, an arbitrary value such as bg-[#b0e0e6] works.
Tints and shades
- #f2fafb
- #e5f5f7
- #d8f0f3
- #cbeaee
- #bee5ea
- #b0e0e6
- #89afb4
- #648185
- #425659
- #222e30
- #070b0c
From light to dark: 5 toward white and 5 toward black, mixed in OKLCH a sixth of the way at a time with the hue kept. A step that would repeat its neighbor is left out.
A palette around it
- #b0e0e6
- #cf7264
- #00272b
- #88ced3
- #006972
Locked as the first of five swatches, powderblue gets #cf7264, #00272b, #88ced3, #006972 from Recolor's generator, a complementary palette, built on the hue opposite. The seed is its hex, so the palette stays the same. Open it in Recolor.
Using powderblue
As a text color, powderblue on a black page gives the same 14.65:1.
.notice {
background-color: powderblue; /* #b0e0e6 */
color: black; /* 14.65:1 */
}Common questions
Does white text pass WCAG AA on powderblue?
No. White text measures 1.43:1 on powderblue, under AA's 4.5:1; black text measures 14.65:1 and passes.
Can powderblue be written in OKLCH?
Yes: oklch(87.5% 0.050 205.7), computed from #b0e0e6. A named color is an sRGB color, so its OKLCH value converts back to the same hex.
Is there a named color close to powderblue?
Yes: lightblue (#add8e6) is the nearest, 0.022 away in OKLab, then paleturquoise at 0.036.