Inspect Orange (#FFA500) in HEX, RGB, HSL, LCH and OKLCH, check its contrast, and copy the value you need.
Orange
#FFA500
Black text reads best on this background, at 10.63:1.
Orange is one of the 148 CSS named colors, and resolves to #FFA500 in every browser. In numbers that is rgb(255, 165, 0) and hsl(39, 100%, 50%). Perceptually it is a light, moderately saturated color: OKLCH puts its lightness at 79% and its chroma at 0.171. It sits in the oranges at 71 degrees of OKLCH hue, and reads as a warm color.
White text only reaches 1.97:1 here, so black text is the safer pairing at 10.63:1. That combination of lightness and chroma makes it a workable mid-tone, the kind of value that lands in the middle of a shade scale.
The closest CSS named colors to Orange, measured with CIEDE2000, are DarkOrange (#FF8C00), GoldenRod (#DAA520), SandyBrown (#F4A460). If Orange is not quite right, those are the nearest keywords to try before reaching for a custom value.
HEX
#FFA500
RGB
rgb(255, 165, 0)
HSL
hsl(39, 100%, 50%)
HWB
hwb(39 0% 0%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 35%, 100%, 0%)
LAB
lab(75.59 27.52 79.12)
LCH
lch(75.59 83.77 70.82)
OKLCH
oklch(79.27% 0.171 70.67)
WCAG asks for 4.5:1 between body text and its background. On #FFA500 white text measures 1.97:1 and black text 10.63:1, so black clears it and white does not.
White text on Orange
WCAG 2.2
1.97:1
APCA
Lc 42
Fails AA body text
Fails AAA body text
Fails AA large text
Black text on Orange
WCAG 2.2
10.63:1
APCA
Lc 66
Passes AA body text
Passes AAA body text
Passes AA large text
Check Orange against any other color in the contrast checker.
Orange sits at 79% OKLCH lightness. Holding its hue and chroma and moving only that value carries it up to #FFF7EE and down to #0B0400, which keeps the family recognizable instead of letting it drift toward gray the way a plain HSL ramp does.
#FFB75B
20% lighter
#FFC887
40% lighter
#FFD8AC
60% lighter
#FFE8CE
80% lighter
#FFF7EE
100% lighter
#C78000
20% darker
#925D00
40% darker
#603C00
60% darker
#331D00
80% darker
#0B0400
100% darker
Build a full accessible scale from #FFA500 in the shade generator.
Hues rotated around #FFA500 in OKLCH, then pulled back into the sRGB gamut. Each swatch is labelled with the nearest CSS named color so you have a keyword to start from.
Orange sits at 71 degrees. Rotating it a half turn lands on 251 degrees, the hue directly opposite. It is the strongest pairing you can make without changing lightness, and the one most likely to vibrate if you use both at full chroma.
The neighbors of Orange at 41 and 101 degrees. They stay close enough to read as the same family, which is what you want for hover states, secondary surfaces and gradients.
71, 191 and 311 degrees divide the wheel into thirds. Balanced enough to carry a whole palette without one color dominating the other two.
Instead of the complement at 251 degrees, this pair flanks it at 221 and 281. You keep most of the contrast of a complementary pairing while losing the harshness.
Explore more combinations around Orange on the color wheel.
The biggest shift is under achromatopsia, where #FFA500 reads as #ACACAC, 29.1 CIEDE2000 units away. If Orange is the only thing marking a state or a series, roughly one viewer in twelve will miss it.
Protanopia
#D59F00
Deuteranopia
#ECB604
Tritanopia
#FF8673
Achromatopsia
#ACACAC
The nearest CSS keywords to #FFA500, ranked by perceptual distance rather than by how close their hex digits happen to look.