Yellow Color Codes (Shades of Yellow)

Yellow is the lightest of the saturated colors, from pale lemon chiffon to deep mustard and saffron. This page lists 27 yellows — the seven CSS named yellows such as yellow, gold, lightyellow and khaki, plus canary, lemon, mustard, saffron, jonquil, Naples yellow, cyber yellow and school bus yellow — with HEX, RGB, HSL, HSV, CMYK and OKLCH codes, tints and shades, and how each one performs as text on white.

How to use this tool

1. Choose a shade of yellow from the list.
2. Copy its HEX, RGB, HSL or CMYK code.
3. Check "As text on white" — most yellows only work as backgrounds or highlights.
4. Use the shades table for darker, more readable versions.

Formula

contrast = (L₁ + 0.05) ÷ (L₂ + 0.05) · shade = c × (1 − p)

L is WCAG relative luminance; yellow is so light because green, the channel the eye is most sensitive to, is near full strength. Darkening (shading) is the only way to make a yellow readable on white.

Example

Mustard #FFDB58 = rgb(255, 219, 88) has a relative luminance of 0.726, so as text on white it reaches only 1.35:1 — far below the 4.5:1 WCAG minimum. Pure CSS yellow scores just 1.07:1 on white, but black text on a yellow background reaches 19.55:1.