Did you read the article?
> The palette uses a 12-bit colour depth, so each colour requires only four characters when specified as a hexadecimal colour code in a CSS or SVG file
> The palette uses a 12-bit colour depth, so each colour requires only four characters when specified as a hexadecimal colour code in a CSS or SVG file
A single ASCII character is minimum 8 bits so 4x8 is 32 bits... assuming the hash is ignored that's still 24 bits.
What have I missed?
PS: ASCII is a 7-bit encoding. "8 bits minimum" sounds like you are thinking in UTF-8.
She created a 12-entry indexed palette, from the 12-bit (4096) possibilities of short css-hex codes, one nibble per char. (Also single css-hex codes double, so results are brighter than expectations.)
Tldr: This is a 12-entry indexed palette, not a 12-bit one. Neither of which we are constrained to.
I see now, she's saying that it's 12 bit, because instead of using a 6 digit hex code, she is using 3 digit hex codes, at four bits per hex value, it's 12 bits.