The conclusion, discussed below, is that you are likely to see the colors on this site pretty much as I see them
If you have even a reasonably modern desktop computer (say, 5 years old or less), it is very likely that you'll see the colors on this site pretty much the way I do. There WILL BE some exceptions, but I believe that they are very much in the minority.
To help you figure out whether you see what I see, I've included this display of the most common colors. If what you see is substantially different than what the names in these color boxes indicate, then you should suspect the colors shown on this web site.
If you want more discussion, read on, but if you see what the labels in the boxes above say you should see, then you are good to go.
I have heard from many folks responding to this site, and I have read in a couple of places on the web, that the wide variation in color presentation on computer monitors makes my avowed task here futile.
My response to this is that such claims have a foundation in fact but they are are seriously exaggerated. If you have a laptop, then, yes you are likely to see the colors significantly differently than I do on my monitor, especially if you have an older laptop or a low-end laptop. Otherwise, you are likely to see the colors as being quite close to how I see them.
I've looked at the pics on this site from several different desktop computers and I have not once seen any significant variation in color, so I don't really think there's all that much to worry about.
In addition, I have checked the colors on my monitor in two ways. First, I've put pieces of wood up right next to their picture on the monitor and checked that the colors are accurate. With the exception of yellow tones, the accuracy in most cases is really excellent. Second, I've used a color standard sheet (see below) that came with my scanner, to assess the full range of the visible light spectrum on my monitor. Again, with the exception of yellows, the accuracy is excellent.
The yellow in D12 and in column 15 is slightly more pale on my monitor than on the actualy color sheet, which has a slightly more golden tint. This is consistent with the difficultly I have had in making yellows come out right on some wood pics, but I don't know how much of it is due to the scanner (this image was scanned in, not photographed, and I will address that at some point in the future).
