Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login
Adding 'rebeccapurple' color to CSS Color Level 4 (w3.org)
106 points by theone on June 21, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 25 comments



Before Rebecca passed, her older sister Carolyn requested help [1] to raise money for childhood cancer research by participating in a shave-a-thon.

I was slightly upset to see she only got to 90% ($10,443 of $11,500) of her goal [2] -I guess I'm hoping the internet can step up and help (I believe we can still add donations after the event).

Edit: I'd point out that "The family requests charitable donations be made in Rebecca’s name to the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House [3] or the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. [1]", however I think it's important for Carolyn to know her earlier actions specifically were and continue to be worthy of support and respect.

[1] http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2014/02/26/a-st-baldricks-...

[2] https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/663064/2014

[3] http://www.philarmh.org/


The original proposal was to call it beccapurple ( http://discourse.specifiction.org/t/name-663399-becca-purple... ). However, Eric Meyer asked for it to be rebeccapurple ( http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2014/06/19/rebeccapurple/ ).


"I have been made aware of the proposal to add the named color beccapurple (equivalent to #663399) to the CSS specification [...] I did set one condition: that if the proposal is accepted, the official name be rebeccapurple. A couple of weeks before she died, Rebecca informed us that she was about to be a big girl of six years old, and Becca was a baby name. Once she turned six, she wanted everyone (not just me) to call her Rebecca, not Becca.

She made it to six. For almost twelve hours, she was six. So Rebecca it is and must be."

I never thought a tweak note for a minor proposed CSS standard would make me cry this hard.


That text is so sad... I don't why I feel so close to that guy, maybe because I bought his books and I learned CSS thanks to him.


It is good to remember that there are humans building software, and I personally like the idea of software paying a tribute to the people behind it. Another example: http://www.wowwiki.com/Shrine_of_the_Fallen_Warrior


I say read http://meyerweb.com/, the posts by Eric are beautiful, sad and ultimately courageous. God speed to him and his whole family.


So touching to read the thoughts of a parent as they go through the last days of life with their very loved daughter and family. This is what family is and the joy of life through the process of losing it.



Color-hex has some great info - it's what DDG uses to display color info when it detects a color search:

http://www.color-hex.com/color/663399


They could have added a dedication in the acknowledgements rather than change the content of a binding specs for personal reasons.


FYI: other CSS colors include such oddities as dodgerblue, gainsboro, papayawhip, peachpuff, and peru.

I really don't think the spec will be hurt by an additional one.


Is there a near-zero performance impact for checking all of the human-friendly names in CSS?


CSS seems to define about a 150 named colours. One more shouldn't make a noticeable difference.

(there is a list here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/color_value )


[dead]


First, it's meant for humans. As a gesture. Surely you've heard of those.

Second, it's not like CSS is not 50% ill-though BS legacy stuff all around, and some over-engineered crap in tons of sub-specs. A color name will hardly make any difference to anything.


There's a CSS color named 'Gainsboro', and a color named 'NavajoWhite' that's not super close to white. 'RebeccaPurple', from a pragmatic sense, is easier to understand than those two in my opinion.


Navajo white was around long before CSS, perhaps the most used interior paint color for last 30 years of the 1900s:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_white

While "gainsboro" as grey is now in the dictionary, used from rugs to Kate Spade pants, Wikipedia suggests it's from X11 colors with no real world usage before that.


Before you follow up with a rant on being downvoted for merely having a different opinion: I only speak for myself but I don't mind you saying you're opposed to this proposal. Sure, it makes me not like you but if I downvoted everyone I didn't like it'd be a full-time job.

The reason (at least, for me) is the rather insensitive way in which you expressed your opinion. Take a few steps back and reconsider what you wrote on what is essentially a thread about a father losing his daughter.


Your patience and civility are appreciated, but the GP was way beyond the pale. We've banned that account as a troll (at least until we get a promise that this won't happen again).


I'm not sure if the deadfly remark is some morbid joke, but I agree with the first half of your post.

While it is a great gesture to a man many of us look up to and are grateful for his work, where will it end, if we need to pay tribute in the form of specs to all the losses of people involved in developing the open web?

And so what if HN users are mostly on macs?


If share a cookie with a friend, you're that person who demands I share with everyone within earshot, aren't you?

Just take it for what it is. It's one act of kindness. Buying a sandwich for a homeless person doesn't mean every homeless person is now entitled to a sandwich from you.


> if we need to pay tribute in the form of specs

RFC 2468 - "I remember IANA". Vint Cerf did it for Jon Postel. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2468.txt

(And the number is a nice touch too)


Where will it end? Think about the future! This will lead to so much abuse. /s


Terrible choice of words.

I doubt this would really affect you in any meaningful way.


It will not be a burden on anyone. Show a little compassion.


Leaving aside the context of the name, how is this different from adding another name of any other color to the CSS specification?




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: