diff --git a/src/static/js/colorutils.js b/src/static/js/colorutils.js
index 5fbefb4d..74a2e463 100644
--- a/src/static/js/colorutils.js
+++ b/src/static/js/colorutils.js
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@
 
 var colorutils = {};
 
+// Check that a given value is a css hex color value, e.g.
+// "#ffffff" or "#fff"
+colorutils.isCssHex = function(cssColor)
+{
+  return /^#([0-9a-f]{3}|[0-9a-f]{6})$/i.test(cssColor);
+}
+
 // "#ffffff" or "#fff" or "ffffff" or "fff" to [1.0, 1.0, 1.0]
 colorutils.css2triple = function(cssColor)
 {
diff --git a/src/static/js/pad.js b/src/static/js/pad.js
index 3e2663c8..21dea440 100644
--- a/src/static/js/pad.js
+++ b/src/static/js/pad.js
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ var padmodals = require('./pad_modals').padmodals;
 var padsavedrevs = require('./pad_savedrevs');
 var paduserlist = require('./pad_userlist').paduserlist;
 var padutils = require('./pad_utils').padutils;
+var colorutils = require('./colorutils').colorutils;
 
 var createCookie = require('./pad_utils').createCookie;
 var readCookie = require('./pad_utils').readCookie;
@@ -369,18 +370,8 @@ function handshake()
         pad.myUserInfo.name = settings.globalUserName;
         $('#myusernameedit').attr({"value":settings.globalUserName}); // Updates the current users UI
       }
-      if (settings.globalUserColor !== false)
+      if (settings.globalUserColor !== false && colorutils.isCssHex(settings.globalUserColor))
       {
-        // First, check the color to ensure it's a valid css color value.
-        var check = $("<span/>").css("background-color", "transparent");
-        $("body").append(check);
-        var transparent = check.css("background-color");
-        check.css("background-color", settings.globalUserColor);
-        // Ensure that setting the element changed the color.
-        if (check.css("background-color") === transparent) {
-          settings.globalUserColor = "#ff0000";
-        }
-        check.remove();
 
         // Add a 'globalUserColor' property to myUserInfo, so collabClient knows we have a query parameter.
         pad.myUserInfo.globalUserColor = settings.globalUserColor;