As teachers (I am a former teacher), I think you and I anticipate the needs of readers in a way that some writers might not. We have looked across the room and have seen quizzical looks as we tried to make a point (at least I have😄). I think we anticipate questions as we go along.
As for the colours
green quark, plus one red quark plus one blue quark, and this gives a white proton or a white neutron (the difference between protons and neutrons come from the flavours of the quarks considered).
This is so much more sophisticated than my understanding had been.
I guess that this is what we could call experience, couldn't we? ;)
That's the easiest way I have found to explain this. Matter is white, whereas its building blocks are red, green and blue (or anti-red, anti-blue and anti-green). Therefore, to form white objects, we have two options:
The former category gives mesons (which I have addressed in my toponium story), and the second category gives baryons, a class of composite particles to which protons and neutrons belong.