Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP2 - DEPLOYMENT GUIDE 08-05-2008 Deployment Manual page 292

10.8.3 Reducing Color Usage and Improving
Many modern computer systems support 24-bit color (that is, 16,777,216 colors).
However, many users still use systems that support only 8-bit color (256 colors). The
GNOME Desktop uses the websafe color palette. This palette is a general-purpose
palette of 216 colors which is designed to optimize the use of color on systems that
support 8-bit color. However, some visual components of the GNOME Desktop are
designed for systems that support 24-bit color.
The following display problems might occur on systems that support only 8-bit color:
• Windows, icons, and background images might appear grainy. Many themes,
background images, and icons use colors that are not in the websafe color palette.
The colors that are not in the palette are replaced with the nearest equivalent or a
dithered approximation, which causes the grainy appearance.
• Applications that do not use the websafe color palette have fewer colors available;
therefore, color errors might occur. Some colors might not appear in the user inter-
face of the application, and some applications might crash if the application cannot
allocate colors.
• Color flashing might occur when users switch between applications that use the
websafe color palette and applications that do not use this palette. The applications
that do not use the websafe color palette might use a custom colormap. When the
custom colormap is used, other visual components might lose colors and then be-
come unviewable.
The following sections describe how to optimize the appearance of the GNOME
Desktop for systems that support only 8-bit color.
Using Theme Options That Use the Websafe Color
Palette
Some window frame theme options use colors that are in the websafe color palette.
Bright and Esco use colors from the websafe color palette and do not have the grainy
appearance of other window frame options on 8-bit color displays. Use Bright or Esco
for the best color display on 8-bit visual modes.
276 Deployment Guide
Display Quality