HSLs

HSLs refer to the HSL color model, a scheme for representing colors by Hue, Saturation, and Lightness. Widely used in digital imaging and web design, HSL provides an intuitive alternative to RGB by separating chromatic content from brightness, making it easy to adjust shade and intensity without manipulating individual RGB channels.

Hue is the type of color and is mapped to a position on a 360-degree color wheel. Saturation indicates color vividness, from 0% (gray) to 100% (fully saturated). Lightness ranges from 0% (black) through 50% (normal brightness) to 100% (white).

In practice, HSL is useful for design and styling. CSS supports hsl(h, s%, l%) and hsla for transparency. Graphic tools also let users adjust hue, saturation, and lightness directly to preview the resulting color.

Converting between HSL and RGB involves intermediate computations to obtain the red, green, and blue components; the exact steps depend on hue sector and chroma. Most libraries implement these conversions, with attention to gamma correction and device color management.

Limitations include imperfect perceptual uniformity: equal changes in hue, saturation, or lightness do not produce uniform perceived differences across the spectrum. HSL differs from HSV, which uses a different interpretation of saturation. HSL is widely used in CSS, vector graphics, and UI design.