diff --git a/IPython/html/tests/notebook/isolated_svg.js b/IPython/html/tests/notebook/isolated_svg.js
index 141e9b62c..8c9b7636e 100644
--- a/IPython/html/tests/notebook/isolated_svg.js
+++ b/IPython/html/tests/notebook/isolated_svg.js
@@ -61,10 +61,8 @@ casper.notebook_test(function () {
             colors[1] = window.getComputedStyle(svg2).fill;
             return colors;
         });
-
-
-        this.test.assert(['#ff0000', 'rgb(255, 0, 0)'].indexOf(colors && colors[0]) > -1, 'display_svg() First svg should be red');
-        this.test.assert(['#000000', 'rgb(0, 0, 0)'].indexOf(colors && colors[1]) > -1, 'display_svg() Second svg should be black');
+        this.assert_colors_equal('#ff0000', colors && colors[0], 'display_svg() First svg should be red');
+        this.assert_colors_equal('#000000', colors && colors[1], 'display_svg() Second svg should be black');
     });
 
     // now ensure that we can pass the same metadata dict to plain old display()
@@ -91,8 +89,7 @@ casper.notebook_test(function () {
             colors[1] = window.getComputedStyle(svg2).fill;
             return colors;
         });
-
-        this.test.assert(['#ff0000', 'rgb(255, 0, 0)'].indexOf(colors && colors[0]) > -1, 'display() First svg should be red');
-        this.test.assert(['#000000', 'rgb(0, 0, 0)'].indexOf(colors && colors[1]) > -1, 'display() Second svg should be black');
+        this.assert_colors_equal('#ff0000', colors && colors[0], 'display() First svg should be red');
+        this.assert_colors_equal('#000000', colors && colors[1], 'display() Second svg should be black');
     });
 });
diff --git a/IPython/html/tests/util.js b/IPython/html/tests/util.js
index 22287ce0a..cb7a4f9e3 100644
--- a/IPython/html/tests/util.js
+++ b/IPython/html/tests/util.js
@@ -417,6 +417,34 @@ casper.cell_has_class = function(index, classes) {
     }, {i : index, c: classes});
 };
 
+casper.assert_colors_equal = function (hex_color, local_color, msg) {
+    // Tests to see if two colors are equal.
+    //
+    // Parameters
+    // hex_color: string
+    //      Hexadecimal color code, with or without preceeding hash character.
+    // local_color: string
+    //      Local color representation.  Can either be hexadecimal (default for 
+    //      phantom) or rgb (default for slimer).
+
+    // Remove parentheses, hashes, semi-colons, and space characters.
+    hex_color = hex_color.replace(/[\(\); #]/, '');
+    local_color = local_color.replace(/[\(\); #]/, '');
+
+    // If the local color is rgb, clean it up and replace 
+    if (local_color.substr(0,3).toLowerCase() == 'rgb') {
+        components = local_color.substr(3).split(',');
+        local_color = '';
+        for (var i = 0; i < components.length; i++) {
+            var part = parseInt(components[i]).toString(16);
+            while (part.length < 2) part = '0' + part;
+            local_color += part;
+        }
+    }
+    
+    this.test.assertEquals(hex_color.toUpperCase(), local_color.toUpperCase(), msg);
+};
+
 casper.notebook_test = function(test) {
     // Wrap a notebook test to reduce boilerplate.
     //