Zinc is one of the color families shipped with this release. Slightly cool metallic gray — great for developer tools..
Shades#
100200300400500600700800900950
Palette table#
| Shade | Class fragment | Value | Best role |
|---|---|---|---|
100 | zinc-100 | #fafafa | Very light — section backgrounds, badges on light UI, tinted code blocks. |
200 | zinc-200 | #f4f4f5 | Light — borders on light themes, dividers with personality, chip backgrounds. |
300 | zinc-300 | #e4e4e7 | Soft — secondary borders, disabled states with color, placeholder decorations. |
400 | zinc-400 | #d4d4d8 | Medium-light — icons on dark surfaces, decorative accents, chart lines. |
500 | zinc-500 | #a1a1aa | The primary step — buttons, links, brand fills, key interactive elements. |
600 | zinc-600 | #71717a | Hover step — hover states for 500 elements, or primary on very light UIs. |
700 | zinc-700 | #52525b | Active step — pressed states, emphasized text on light tinted backgrounds. |
800 | zinc-800 | #3f3f46 | Dark — text on light palettes, headers in tinted sections, dark UI fills. |
900 | zinc-900 | #27272a | Very dark — deep section backgrounds, high-contrast text carriers. |
950 | zinc-950 | #18181b | Darkest — near-black tinted backgrounds, hero surfaces, footer tones. |
Use it#
<div class="bg-zinc-500 text-white p-6 rounded-xl">Zinc surface</div>
<p class="text-zinc-600 dark:text-zinc-400">Adaptive text</p>
<div class="border border-zinc-200 dark:border-zinc-800 bg-zinc-50 dark:bg-zinc-950 p-4 rounded-lg">Panel</div>Per-usage guides#
Zinc textstext-zinc-* in practice.Zinc backgroundsbg-zinc-* in practice.Zinc bordersborder-zinc-* in practice.Zinc gradientsfrom-zinc-* in practice.
Contrast#
Flip point: shades 50–400 want dark text (text-slate-900); shades 500+ (approx.) want white text. Verify with the accessibility/color-contrast|contrast guide.
Related palettes#
colors/gray|gray · colors/neutral|neutral · colors/color-pairing|Pairing recipes