[XeTeX] Color names in XeTeX

[Jonathan Kew]

On 27 Dec 2004, at 10:01 pm, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Le 27 déc. 04, à 19:08, Jonathan Kew a écrit :
>>
>> 	\def\myredcolor{rgb 0.8 0.0 0.0}
>> 	\def\mydarkcyancolor{cmyk 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.5}
>>
>> 	Some text... \special{color \myredcolor} ...red text...
>> 	\special{color \mydarkcyancolor} ...cyan text...
>
> Is \special{color cmyk 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.5} an indication that:
>
> - A simplified XeTeX color \special syntax is available?
>
> - CMYK color specification work in XeTeX?
>
> So far I thought, according to XeTeX-notes.tex, that only RGB 6-digit 
> hex values were allowed, in the form:
>
> 	\special{x:textcolorpush}
> 	\special{x:textcolor=4444CC}
> 	Some text
> 	\special{x:textcolorpop}

The "original" XeTeX \specials all use an "x:" prefix, and yes, the 
x:textcolor \special expects 6-digit hex RGB values. (Or 8-digit hex 
RGBA values, if you want transparency.)

However, XeTeX now also supports dvipdfm-style "color" \specials as 
well, or at least some forms of them; you can use, I think:
	color push
	color pop
	color <colorspace> <values>
where
	<colorspace> is one of gray/rgb/hsb/hsv/hls/cmyk
and
	<values> is a space-separated series (one, three, or four, depending 
on <colorspace>) of decimal values in the 0.0 .. 1.0 range.

This was added at the same time as the (limited) hyperref support, 
being also based on the \special support in dvipdfm. (From your 
example, it looks like dvips may use the same \special syntax for 
colors, too.) There's a one-line mention of the feature in the notes 
from release 0.87, for those who were paying close attention at that 
particular moment!

HTH. Don't you wish XeTeX had some real documentation? ;-)

JK