Rebecca Purple

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is what people use to design how different parts of a website look. It includes a list of colours you can use like “red” and “blue”. In 2014, the group in charge of CSS suggested adding a new colour.

Following a proposal sent to social media, it is suggested to add the named color ‘rebeccapurple’, for value #663399, to CSS Color Level 4. This is a tribute to Eric Meyer’s daughter who recently passed away and a mark of support from all the Web community to Eric. I requested to ping Eric to be absolutely sure he is ok with this; he responded “he was honored by the gesture, and would love to accept it”.

The following is Eric Meyer’s response:

I have been made aware of the proposal to add the named color beccapurple (equivalent to #663399) to the CSS specification, and also of the debate that surrounds it.

I understand the arguments both for and against the proposal, but obviously I am too close to both the subject and the situation to be able to judge for myself. Accordingly, I let the editors of the Colors specification know that I will accept whatever the Working Group decides on this issue, pro or con. The WG is debating the matter now.

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.

Kat and I are deeply touched by all the caring and support from the community, and this proposal does mean a lot to me personally. It will always mean that, even if the proposal is ultimately declined. I always thought “it’s an honor to have been nominated” was a pleasant spin on sour grapes, but it’s not. It really is an honor, regardless of the outcome, even if it is an honor I wish nobody had had cause to think of in the first place.

Thank you all. For everything.