You can see that coloring your background is pretty easy. But what colors are available to use for coloring?
As you saw in the example above, basic colors are predefined by your web browser. Thus, you can access colors like "white", "black", and "yellow" by simply using the names of the colors themselves. Specifically, all the same colors that are available to the <FONT> tag are available in the <BODY> tag.
Below is a table that outlines the color names that you can use to color your text and background when displayed in Netscape Navigator.

aliceblue antiquewhite aqua aquamarine azure beige bisque black blanchedalmond blue blueviolet brown burlywood cadetblue	chartreuse chocolate coral cornflowerblue cornsilk crimson cyan darkblue darkcyan darkgoldenrod darkgrey darkgreen darkkhaki darkmagenta	darkolivegreen darkorange darkorchid darkred darksalmon darkseagreen darkslateblue darkslategray darkturquoise darkviolet deeppink deepskyblue dimgray dodgerblue	firebrick floralwhite forestgreen fuchsia gainsboro ghostwhite gold goldenrod gray green greenyellow honeydew hotpink indianred
indigo ivory khaki lavender lavenderblush lawngreen lemonchiffon lightblue lightcoral lightcyan lightgoldenrod yellow lightgreen lightgrey lightpink	lightsalmon lightseagreen lightskyblue lightslategray lightsteelblue lightyellow lime limegreen linen magenta maroon mediumaquamarine mediumorchid mediumpurple	mediumseagreen mediumslateblue mediumspringgreen mediumturquoise mediumvioletred midnightblue mintcream mistyrose moccasin navajowhite navy oldlace olive olivedrab	orange orangered orchid palegoldenrod palegreen paleturquoise palevioletred papayawhip peachpuff peru pink plum powderblue purple
red rosybrown royalblue saddlebrown salmon sandybrown seagreen seashell sienna silver skyblue slateblue snow springgreen		steelblue tan teal thistle tomato turquoise violet wheat white whitesmoke yellow yellowgreen

Defining Custom Colors

However, you are certainly not limited to the colors defined by a browser. Rather than specifying a color name, it is perhaps better to define a color by its RGB value and use that.
RGB values give you greater control over the color and also protect you from differences in color support between browsers.
The RGB color scale works as follows...
The color of a pixel on your monitor is made up of a mixture of three colors: red, green and blue. When these colors are mixed together, you can get any other color because of how the physics of color works.
Typically, you will specify how much of each primary color you want mixed into a final color. This process is sort've like a painter blending colors on his easel.
Each color amount is specified by a hexadecimal value from "zero" to "F". Zero means that there is none of that color represented in the mixture and "F" means that there is quite a bit of that color mixed in.

Hexadecimal numbering is another weird computer thing. But actually it is very easy if you take a minute to understand it. Basically, the hexadecimal system starts at zero and counts to F as follows 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F. The process is a lot like counting a deck of cards that goes ACE, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King. Just think of A as being like 10, B being like 11 and so on.

An entire color is defined by a six digit hexadecimal code such that the amount of red is first, the amount of green is second, and the amount of blue is last.
The following table shows how to make some common colors:

CODE	COLOR
FF0000	Bright Red
660000	Dark Red
00FF00	Bright Green
0000FF	Bright Blue
FF00FF	Magenta (Red and blue mix)
FF00FF	Purple (Red and blue mix with extra blue
BBBBBB	Light Gray
000000	Black
FFFFFF	White