Split complementary with a split angle you choose
A split complementary scheme skips the straight complement and takes the two hues sitting either side of it. The contrast still carries, but the two colors stop meeting head on. Here the split angle is yours to set, anywhere from 5 to 85 degrees. Narrow it and the pair reads almost like a single complement, widen it and the set drifts toward a triad, so you can stop wherever the balance feels right.
How it is computed
The input is converted with the HSL definition in the W3C CSS Color specification, then the hue gets 180 degrees minus the split angle and 180 degrees plus it. Saturation and lightness stay exactly as the base color had them. By definition the complement itself is not part of a split complementary palette, so it is shown dimmed in the table and in its own swatch row, clearly apart from the three palette colors. The specification reference is current as of October 2026.
Limits
White, gray and black have no defined hue, so those inputs are blocked with a message. The page does not assign a role to each color and does not grade contrast ratios.
Frequently Asked Questions
A split complementary scheme is defined by replacing the complement with the two hues beside it. The complement is shown dimmed only so you can see where the split came from, while the palette you copy is the base plus the two split colors, three in total.
Thirty degrees is the value most often quoted, but it is not a fixed rule. Narrowing the angle pulls the set toward a single complement and widening it moves it toward a triad, so change the value and judge the swatches.
No, this page only builds colors. To find out whether a text and background pair clears an accessibility threshold, use a tool that grades every pair in a palette at once.