Colours - Sinclair ZX Spectrum Introduction Manual

7. Colours

One of the reasons for buying the ZX Spectrum in the first place was the ability to
use colour on the TV screen. The screen is divided into two areas. The outer part is
referred to as BORDER, the central area as PAPER. It is possible to change the
colours of these two sections at will, both directly from the keyboard and in a
program.
The ZX Spectrum has eight colours to play with, and these are given numbers
between 0 and 7. Although the colours look in random order, they do in tact give
decreasing shades of grey on a monochrome TV.
Here is a list or them for reference; they are also written over the appropriate
number keys:
0 black
1 blue
2 red
3 purple or magenta
4 green
5 pale blue or cyan
6 yellow
7 white
When the computer is first switched on the system works in black and white. So the
normal value for BORDER and PAPER is 7 i.e. white. The colour of any character
appearing on the screen is defined by the INK command. This is normally 0 i.e.,
black. Initially the three commands controlling the screen colours are set by the
computer.
However you can change these values. For example key
BORDER 2
If you remembered to press the ENTER key the border should now change from
white to red. This includes the area at the bottom where commands and instructions
are typed in. Try typing in other numbers and see how the colours change.
Now try changing the centre of the screen area by keying
PAPER 5
The PAPER command is one of the extended mode commands as mentioned
earlier. It is obtained by typing both CAPS SHIFT and SYMBOLS SHIFT at the
same time. PAPER is then a shifted C. When the ENTER key is pressed twice the
centre of the screen should change to pale blue. The first ENTER cancels the
PAPER command already stored in the computer, but only when the second
ENTER is pressed causing the computer to LIST any program and therefore rebuild
the screen information) does the new PAPER colour get used if you are using a
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