Recently, I received an email from Julian Hebbrecht concerning a color shifting issue of Firefox on Mac. It turns out that the issue isn’t just a Firefox issue, but a Mac color profile usage issue. The way that PC’s and Mac’s address color profiles and display colors is very different. Neither are wrong, they are just different. Where PC adheres to a commonly accepted standard across all applications, Mac tends to shift around a bit, especially with displaying pictures and colors in browser windows. Thus the reason for Julian’s question. Being a graphic designer by trade, one of the first things I do before working on a project is color calibrate my monitor to best match the color medium profile I am working with. However, If you are not in a light controlled room with a calibrated monitor (and most aren’t - even me most of the time), you need another alternative. Rather than bore you with the explanation of what gamma is, why PC’s use 2.2 and Macs are at 1.8, and the reasons they both have, I’ll skip right to the chase. The best method of action is to use one of the pre-existing color profiles that ship with your Mac (or download the sRGB profile if you don’t have Photoshop installed). As I was looking through the internet for a good tutorial before I started writing another one, I came across two great resources.

Okay, so here’s the links:

• This is your Mac on Drugs — SmugBlog
• Aperture: Color and Gamma Settings for Print & Web — Apple Docs

A tool that I use all the time to create color profiles for me is Pantone’s ColorVision Spyder2. It’s a great little calibration tool for those that are looking to work on a calibrated monitor or screen. However, a warning… If you are not used to looking at a calibrated monitor, you will be in for a little “color shock”. Especially if you are on a Mac and used to looking at web pages all day.

Hopefully this will demystify the color shift conundrum for you. As always… If you know of other great links, comment away. Thanks for stopping by & I wish you the best!