Color-coded
Color-coded is anything marked by a color. For example, on the back of many computers, the ports are color-coded so users can easily connect hardware to the computer. By having the ports color-coded, someone connecting their keyboard can know which of the two or more similar connections is correct. The picture shows an example of the PS/2 keyboard and mouse port on a computer that are color-coded. In the top example, the port is colored, and in the bottom example, a sticker points to the port.
Many cables are also color-coded to help with matching the port. For example, a new computer user could identify the round purple keyboard plug connects to the round purple PS/2 port.
Modern connector ports, such as HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), USB (universal serial bus), FireWire, and Ethernet are black and must be identified by their shape rather than color.
Computer connections and related colors
The list below includes many ports and their associated colors. These colors may be on the computer port, around the port, on the cable, or the plug.
- Keyboard (PS/2) - Purple
- Mouse (PS/2) - Green
- Serial - Cyan
- Printer - Violet
- Monitor (VGA) - Blue
- Monitor (DVI) - White
- Line out (headphones) - Lime Green
- Line in (microphone) - Pink
- Audio in - Grey
- Joystick - Yellow
Blue, Color, Color terms, Green, Hardware terms, Pink, Purple, White, Yellow