Well, if you're going to use
resistor code, use it for ORDER, not NUMBER. IE, Brown=5', Red=10', Orange="25', Yellow=50', Green=100',
etc. Typically you don't code lengths other than this, instead using combinations. So a 75' would be orange and yellow, a 300' would have three green stripes,
etc.
Although we use a different color scheme, this is the basic concept we use in our shop, and in most other shops I've worked at/with.
Why not just write a number? Because now from across the
stage I can spot a 50' cable and
point it out to somebody, or know which pile I need to head to. After a little while working with a particular code, it'll become second nature.
FWIW, the color code that our shop uses, as well as at least one lighting shop that I know, is:
10'=green
15'=blue
25'=purple
50'=orange
100'=yellow
There is a code for 75', but it's fallen out of use in place of purple+orange, so I couldn't even tell ya what it is off the top of my head.
--A