diff --git a/lib/colors.js b/lib/colors.js
index da98c5e..7962fde 100644
--- a/lib/colors.js
+++ b/lib/colors.js
@@ -3,8 +3,19 @@
  */
 
 // Try to match a hex code to a terminal color as best as possible.
+// This entire function assumes the terminal user is using the
+// default xterm colors.
 exports.matchColor = function(col) {
-  if (col[0] !== '#') return col;
+  if (col[0] !== '#') {
+    return col;
+  }
+
+  if (col.length === 4) {
+    col = col[0]
+      + col[1] + col[1]
+      + col[2] + col[2]
+      + col[3] + col[3];
+  }
 
   if (exports._cache[col] != null) {
     return exports._cache[col];
@@ -49,26 +60,6 @@ exports.matchColor = function(col) {
 
 exports._cache = {};
 
-// Default VGA-like colors
-exports.def = [
-  '#000000',
-  '#ee0000',
-  '#00ee00',
-  '#eeee00',
-  '#0000ee',
-  '#ee00ee',
-  '#00eeee',
-  '#eeeeee',
-  '#111111',
-  '#ff0000',
-  '#00ff00',
-  '#ffff00',
-  '#0000ff',
-  '#ff00ff',
-  '#00ffff',
-  '#ffffff'
-];
-
 // XTerm Colors
 // These were actually tough to track down. The xterm source only uses color
 // keywords. The X11 source needed to be examined to find the actual values.
@@ -164,6 +155,7 @@ exports.ccolors = (function() {
 
 var colorNames = exports.colorNames = {
   default: -1,
+  normal: -1,
   bg: -1,
   fg: -1,
   black: 0,
diff --git a/lib/tput.js b/lib/tput.js
index a52f895..bfe2640 100644
--- a/lib/tput.js
+++ b/lib/tput.js
@@ -1373,7 +1373,7 @@ Tput.prototype.parseACS = function() {
   }
 
   // See: ~/ncurses/ncurses/tinfo/lib_acs.c: L208
-  Object.keys(acsc).forEach(function(ch) {
+  Object.keys(Tput.acsc).forEach(function(ch) {
     var acs_chars = self.strings.acs_chars || ''
       , i = acs_chars.indexOf(ch)
       , next = acs_chars[i + 1];
@@ -1382,8 +1382,8 @@ Tput.prototype.parseACS = function() {
       return;
     }
 
-    self.acsc[ch] = acsc[next];
-    self.acscr[acsc[next]] = ch;
+    self.acsc[ch] = Tput.acsc[next];
+    self.acscr[Tput.acsc[next]] = ch;
   });
 };
 
@@ -2115,7 +2115,7 @@ Tput.strings = [
 
 // DEC Special Character and Line Drawing Set.
 // Taken from tty.js.
-var acsc = { // (0
+Tput.acsc = { // (0
   '`': '\u25c6', // '◆'
   'a': '\u2592', // '▒'
   'b': '\u0009', // '\t'
@@ -2150,7 +2150,7 @@ var acsc = { // (0
 };
 
 // ['b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'h', 'i'].forEach(function(ch) {
-//   delete acsc[ch];
+//   delete Tput.acsc[ch];
 // });
 
 /**
diff --git a/lib/widget.js b/lib/widget.js
index 816aabb..e8d5185 100644
--- a/lib/widget.js
+++ b/lib/widget.js
@@ -797,7 +797,7 @@ Screen.prototype._reduceColor = function(col) {
   if (this.tput) {
     if (col >= 16 && this.tput.colors <= 16) {
       col = colors.ccolors[col];
-      if (col == null) col = 0x1ff;
+      if (col == null) col = 0;
     } else if (col >= 8 && this.tput.colors <= 8) {
       col -= 8;
     } else if (col >= 2 && this.tput.colors <= 2) {
@@ -1042,11 +1042,11 @@ Screen.prototype.setEffects = function(el, fel, over, out, effects, temp) {
   Object.keys(effects).forEach(function(key) {
     var val = effects[key];
     if (typeof val === 'string') {
-      effects[key] = colors.convert(val);
+      effects[key] = val;
     } else if (val && typeof val === 'object' && !Array.isArray(val)) {
       Object.keys(effects[key]).forEach(function(k) {
         var v = effects[key][k];
-        effects[key][k] = colors.convert(v);
+        effects[key][k] = v;
       });
     }
   });
@@ -1115,8 +1115,8 @@ function Element(options) {
   // this.position.padding = options.padding || 0;
   // this.position.margin = options.margin || 0;
 
-  this.fg = colors.convert(options.fg);
-  this.bg = colors.convert(options.bg);
+  this.fg = options.fg;
+  this.bg = options.bg;
   this.bold = options.bold;
   this.underline = options.underline;
   this.blink = options.blink;
@@ -1132,8 +1132,8 @@ function Element(options) {
   this.border = options.border;
   if (this.border) {
     this.border.type = this.border.type || 'bg';
-    this.border.fg = colors.convert(this.border.fg);
-    this.border.bg = colors.convert(this.border.bg);
+    this.border.fg = this.border.fg;
+    this.border.bg = this.border.bg;
     this.border.ch = this.border.ch || ' ';
   }
 
@@ -2053,8 +2053,8 @@ function Line(options) {
 
   options.border = {
     type: 'bg',
-    bg: colors.convert(options.bg),
-    fg: colors.convert(options.fg),
+    bg: options.bg,
+    fg: options.fg,
     ch: !options.type || options.type === 'ascii'
       ? orientation === 'horizontal' ? '─' : '│'
       : options.ch || ' '
@@ -2090,8 +2090,8 @@ function ScrollableBox(options) {
 
   this.scrollbar = options.scrollbar;
   if (this.scrollbar) {
-    this.scrollbar.fg = colors.convert(this.scrollbar.fg);
-    this.scrollbar.bg = colors.convert(this.scrollbar.bg);
+    this.scrollbar.fg = this.scrollbar.fg;
+    this.scrollbar.bg = this.scrollbar.bg;
     this.scrollbar.ch = this.scrollbar.ch || ' ';
   }
 }
@@ -2155,8 +2155,8 @@ function List(options) {
   this.ritems = [];
   this.selected = 0;
 
-  this.selectedBg = colors.convert(options.selectedBg);
-  this.selectedFg = colors.convert(options.selectedFg);
+  this.selectedBg = options.selectedBg;
+  this.selectedFg = options.selectedFg;
   this.selectedBold = options.selectedBold;
   this.selectedUnderline = options.selectedUnderline;
   this.selectedBlink = options.selectedBlink;
@@ -2946,8 +2946,8 @@ function ProgressBar(options) {
     this.filled = +this.filled.slice(0, -1);
   }
   this.ch = options.ch || ' ';
-  this.barFg = colors.convert(options.barFg);
-  this.barBg = colors.convert(options.barBg);
+  this.barFg = options.barFg;
+  this.barBg = options.barBg;
   this.orientation = options.orientation || 'horizontal';
 }
 
@@ -4045,14 +4045,16 @@ function sattr(obj, fg, bg) {
     | ((obj.blink ? 4 : 0) << 18)
     | ((obj.underline ? 2 : 0) << 18))
     | ((obj.bold ? 1 : 0) << 18)
-    | (fg << 9))
-    | bg;
+    | (colors.convert(fg) << 9))
+    | colors.convert(bg);
 }
 
 /**
  * Expose
  */
 
+exports.colors = colors;
+
 exports.Screen = exports.screen = Screen;
 exports.Box = exports.box = Box;
 exports.Text = exports.text = Text;
diff --git a/test/widget.js b/test/widget.js
index 02464cb..1428c99 100644
--- a/test/widget.js
+++ b/test/widget.js
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ screen.append(new blessed.Text({
   width: '100%',
   //bg: 'blue',
   content: '{green-fg}Welcome{/green-fg} to my {red-fg,ul}program{/red-fg,ul}',
+  bg: '#0000ff',
+  // bg: blessed.colors.matchColor('#0000ff'),
   tags: true,
   align: 'center'
 }));