jQuery animate backgroundColor

The color plugin is only 4kb so much cheaper than the UI library. Of course you'll want to use a decent version of the plugin and not some buggy old thing which doesn't handle Safari and crashes when the transitions are too fast. Since a minified version isn't supplied you might like test various compressors and make your own min version. YUI gets the best compression in this case needing only 2317 bytes and since it is so small - here it is:

(function (d) {
    d.each(["backgroundColor", "borderBottomColor", "borderLeftColor", "borderRightColor", "borderTopColor", "color", "outlineColor"], function (f, e) {
        d.fx.step[e] = function (g) {
            if (!g.colorInit) {
                g.start = c(g.elem, e);
                g.end = b(g.end);
                g.colorInit = true
            }
            g.elem.style[e] = "rgb(" + [Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((g.pos * (g.end[0] - g.start[0])) + g.start[0]), 255), 0), Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((g.pos * (g.end[1] - g.start[1])) + g.start[1]), 255), 0), Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((g.pos * (g.end[2] - g.start[2])) + g.start[2]), 255), 0)].join(",") + ")"
        }
    });

    function b(f) {
        var e;
        if (f && f.constructor == Array && f.length == 3) {
            return f
        }
        if (e = /rgb\(\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*,\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*,\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*\)/.exec(f)) {
            return [parseInt(e[1]), parseInt(e[2]), parseInt(e[3])]
        }
        if (e = /rgb\(\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*,\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*,\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*\)/.exec(f)) {
            return [parseFloat(e[1]) * 2.55, parseFloat(e[2]) * 2.55, parseFloat(e[3]) * 2.55]
        }
        if (e = /#([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})/.exec(f)) {
            return [parseInt(e[1], 16), parseInt(e[2], 16), parseInt(e[3], 16)]
        }
        if (e = /#([a-fA-F0-9])([a-fA-F0-9])([a-fA-F0-9])/.exec(f)) {
            return [parseInt(e[1] + e[1], 16), parseInt(e[2] + e[2], 16), parseInt(e[3] + e[3], 16)]
        }
        if (e = /rgba\(0, 0, 0, 0\)/.exec(f)) {
            return a.transparent
        }
        return a[d.trim(f).toLowerCase()]
    }
    function c(g, e) {
        var f;
        do {
            f = d.css(g, e);
            if (f != "" && f != "transparent" || d.nodeName(g, "body")) {
                break
            }
            e = "backgroundColor"
        } while (g = g.parentNode);
        return b(f)
    }
    var a = {
        aqua: [0, 255, 255],
        azure: [240, 255, 255],
        beige: [245, 245, 220],
        black: [0, 0, 0],
        blue: [0, 0, 255],
        brown: [165, 42, 42],
        cyan: [0, 255, 255],
        darkblue: [0, 0, 139],
        darkcyan: [0, 139, 139],
        darkgrey: [169, 169, 169],
        darkgreen: [0, 100, 0],
        darkkhaki: [189, 183, 107],
        darkmagenta: [139, 0, 139],
        darkolivegreen: [85, 107, 47],
        darkorange: [255, 140, 0],
        darkorchid: [153, 50, 204],
        darkred: [139, 0, 0],
        darksalmon: [233, 150, 122],
        darkviolet: [148, 0, 211],
        fuchsia: [255, 0, 255],
        gold: [255, 215, 0],
        green: [0, 128, 0],
        indigo: [75, 0, 130],
        khaki: [240, 230, 140],
        lightblue: [173, 216, 230],
        lightcyan: [224, 255, 255],
        lightgreen: [144, 238, 144],
        lightgrey: [211, 211, 211],
        lightpink: [255, 182, 193],
        lightyellow: [255, 255, 224],
        lime: [0, 255, 0],
        magenta: [255, 0, 255],
        maroon: [128, 0, 0],
        navy: [0, 0, 128],
        olive: [128, 128, 0],
        orange: [255, 165, 0],
        pink: [255, 192, 203],
        purple: [128, 0, 128],
        violet: [128, 0, 128],
        red: [255, 0, 0],
        silver: [192, 192, 192],
        white: [255, 255, 255],
        yellow: [255, 255, 0],
        transparent: [255, 255, 255]
    }
})(jQuery);

---

I had the same problem and fixed it by including jQuery UI. Here is the complete script :

<!-- include Google's AJAX API loader -->
<script src="http://www.google.com/jsapi"></script>
<!-- load JQuery and UI from Google (need to use UI to animate colors) -->
<script type="text/javascript">
google.load("jqueryui", "1.5.2");
</script>


<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
$('#menu ul li.item').hover(
    function() {
        $(this).stop().animate({backgroundColor:'#4E1402'}, 300);
        }, function () {
        $(this).stop().animate({backgroundColor:'#943D20'}, 100);
    });
});
</script>

---

Do it with CSS3-Transitions. Support is great (all modern browsers, even IE). With Compass and SASS this is quickly done:

#foo {background:red; @include transition(background 1s)}
#foo:hover {background:yellow}

Pure CSS:

#foo {
background:red;
-webkit-transition:background 1s;
-moz-transition:background 1s;
-o-transition:background 1s;
transition:background 1s
}
#foo:hover {background:yellow}

I've wrote an german article about this topic: http://www.solife.cc/blog/animation-farben-css3-transition.html

---

Bitstorm has the best jquery color animation plugin I've seen. It's an improvement to the jquery color project. It also supports rgba.

http://www.bitstorm.org/jquery/color-animation/

---

You can use jQuery UI to add this functionality. You can grab just what you need, so if you want to animate color, all you have to include is the following code. I got if from latest jQuery UI (currently 1.8.14)

/******************************************************************************/
/****************************** COLOR ANIMATIONS ******************************/
/******************************************************************************/

// override the animation for color styles
$.each(['backgroundColor', 'borderBottomColor', 'borderLeftColor',
    'borderRightColor', 'borderTopColor', 'borderColor', 'color', 'outlineColor'],
function(i, attr) {
    $.fx.step[attr] = function(fx) {
        if (!fx.colorInit) {
            fx.start = getColor(fx.elem, attr);
            fx.end = getRGB(fx.end);
            fx.colorInit = true;
        }

        fx.elem.style[attr] = 'rgb(' +
            Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((fx.pos * (fx.end[0] - fx.start[0])) + fx.start[0], 10), 255), 0) + ',' +
            Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((fx.pos * (fx.end[1] - fx.start[1])) + fx.start[1], 10), 255), 0) + ',' +
            Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((fx.pos * (fx.end[2] - fx.start[2])) + fx.start[2], 10), 255), 0) + ')';
    };
});

// Color Conversion functions from highlightFade
// By Blair Mitchelmore
// http://jquery.offput.ca/highlightFade/

// Parse strings looking for color tuples [255,255,255]
function getRGB(color) {
        var result;

        // Check if we're already dealing with an array of colors
        if ( color && color.constructor == Array && color.length == 3 )
                return color;

        // Look for rgb(num,num,num)
        if (result = /rgb\(\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*,\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*,\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*\)/.exec(color))
                return [parseInt(result[1],10), parseInt(result[2],10), parseInt(result[3],10)];

        // Look for rgb(num%,num%,num%)
        if (result = /rgb\(\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*,\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*,\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*\)/.exec(color))
                return [parseFloat(result[1])*2.55, parseFloat(result[2])*2.55, parseFloat(result[3])*2.55];

        // Look for #a0b1c2
        if (result = /#([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})/.exec(color))
                return [parseInt(result[1],16), parseInt(result[2],16), parseInt(result[3],16)];

        // Look for #fff
        if (result = /#([a-fA-F0-9])([a-fA-F0-9])([a-fA-F0-9])/.exec(color))
                return [parseInt(result[1]+result[1],16), parseInt(result[2]+result[2],16), parseInt(result[3]+result[3],16)];

        // Look for rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) == transparent in Safari 3
        if (result = /rgba\(0, 0, 0, 0\)/.exec(color))
                return colors['transparent'];

        // Otherwise, we're most likely dealing with a named color
        return colors[$.trim(color).toLowerCase()];
}

function getColor(elem, attr) {
        var color;

        do {
                color = $.curCSS(elem, attr);

                // Keep going until we find an element that has color, or we hit the body
                if ( color != '' && color != 'transparent' || $.nodeName(elem, "body") )
                        break;

                attr = "backgroundColor";
        } while ( elem = elem.parentNode );

        return getRGB(color);
};

It's only 1.43kb after compressing with YUI:

$.each(["backgroundColor","borderBottomColor","borderLeftColor","borderRightColor","borderTopColor","borderColor","color","outlineColor"],function(b,a){$.fx.step[a]=function(c){if(!c.colorInit){c.start=getColor(c.elem,a);c.end=getRGB(c.end);c.colorInit=true}c.elem.style[a]="rgb("+Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((c.pos*(c.end[0]-c.start[0]))+c.start[0],10),255),0)+","+Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((c.pos*(c.end[1]-c.start[1]))+c.start[1],10),255),0)+","+Math.max(Math.min(parseInt((c.pos*(c.end[2]-c.start[2]))+c.start[2],10),255),0)+")"}});function getRGB(b){var a;if(b&&b.constructor==Array&&b.length==3){return b}if(a=/rgb\(\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*,\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*,\s*([0-9]{1,3})\s*\)/.exec(b)){return[parseInt(a[1],10),parseInt(a[2],10),parseInt(a[3],10)]}if(a=/rgb\(\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*,\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*,\s*([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?)\%\s*\)/.exec(b)){return[parseFloat(a[1])*2.55,parseFloat(a[2])*2.55,parseFloat(a[3])*2.55]}if(a=/#([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})([a-fA-F0-9]{2})/.exec(b)){return[parseInt(a[1],16),parseInt(a[2],16),parseInt(a[3],16)]}if(a=/#([a-fA-F0-9])([a-fA-F0-9])([a-fA-F0-9])/.exec(b)){return[parseInt(a[1]+a[1],16),parseInt(a[2]+a[2],16),parseInt(a[3]+a[3],16)]}if(a=/rgba\(0, 0, 0, 0\)/.exec(b)){return colors.transparent}return colors[$.trim(b).toLowerCase()]}function getColor(c,a){var b;do{b=$.curCSS(c,a);if(b!=""&&b!="transparent"||$.nodeName(c,"body")){break}a="backgroundColor"}while(c=c.parentNode);return getRGB(b)};

You can also animate colors using CSS3 transitions but it's only supported by modern browsers.

a.test {
  color: red;
  -moz-transition-property: color;  /* FF4+ */
  -moz-transition-duration: 1s;
  -webkit-transition-property: color;  /* Saf3.2+, Chrome */
  -webkit-transition-duration: 1s;
  -o-transition-property: color;  /* Opera 10.5+ */
  -o-transition-duration: 1s;
  -ms-transition-property: color;  /* IE10? */
  -ms-transition-duration: 1s;
  transition-property: color;  /* Standard */
  transition-duration: 1s;
  }

  a.test:hover {
  color: blue;
  }

Using shorthand property:

/* shorthand notation for transition properties */
/* transition: [transition-property] [transition-duration] [transition-timing-function] [transition-delay]; */

a.test {
  color: red;
  -moz-transition: color 1s;
  -webkit-transition: color 1s;
  -o-transition: color 1s;
  -ms-transition: color 1s;
  transition: color 1s;
  }

a.test {
  color: blue;
 }

Unlike regular javascript transitions, CSS3 transitions are hardware accelerated and therefore smoother. You can use Modernizr, to find out if the browser supports CSS3 transitions, if it didn't then you can use jQuery as a fallback:

if ( !cssTransitions() ) {
    $(document).ready(function(){
        $(".test").hover(function () {
                $(this).stop().animate({ backgroundColor: "red" },500)
             }, function() {
                 $(this).stop().animate({ backgroundColor: "blue" },500)}    
             );
    }); 
}

Remember to use stop() to stop the current animation before starting a new one otherwise when you pass over the element too fast, the effect keeps blinking for a while.

---

For anyone finding this. Your better off using the jQuery UI version because it works on all browsers. The color plugin has issues with Safari and Chrome. It only works sometimes.

---

You can use 2 divs:

You could put a clone on top of it and fade the original out while fading the clone in.

When the fades are done, restore the original with the new bg.

$(function(){
    var $mytd = $('#mytd'), $elie = $mytd.clone(), os = $mytd.offset();

      // Create clone w other bg and position it on original
    $elie.toggleClass("class1, class2").appendTo("body")
         .offset({top: os.top, left: os.left}).hide();

    $mytd.mouseover(function() {            
          // Fade original
        $mytd.fadeOut(3000, function() {
            $mytd.toggleClass("class1, class2").show();
            $elie.toggleClass("class1, class2").hide();            
        });
          // Show clone at same time
        $elie.fadeIn(3000);
    });
});​

jsFiddle example

.toggleClass()
.offset()
.fadeIn()
.fadeOut()

---

I used a combination of CSS transitions with JQuery for the desired effect; obviously browsers which don't support CSS transitions will not animate but its a lightweight option which works well for most browsers and for my requirements is acceptable degradation.

Jquery to change the background color:

   $('.mylinkholder a').hover(
        function () {
            $(this).css({ backgroundColor: '#f0f0f0' }); 
        },
        function () {
            $(this).css({ backgroundColor: '#fff' });
        }
    );

CSS using transition to fade background-color change

   .mylinkholder a
   {
   transition: background-color .5s ease-in-out;
   -moz-transition: background-color .5s ease-in-out;
   -webkit-transition: background-color .5s ease-in-out; 
  -o-transition: background-color .5s ease-in-out; 
   }

---

These days jQuery color plugin supports following named colors:

aqua:[0,255,255],
azure:[240,255,255],
beige:[245,245,220],
black:[0,0,0],
blue:[0,0,255],
brown:[165,42,42],
cyan:[0,255,255],
darkblue:[0,0,139],
darkcyan:[0,139,139],
darkgrey:[169,169,169],
darkgreen:[0,100,0],
darkkhaki:[189,183,107],
darkmagenta:[139,0,139],
darkolivegreen:[85,107,47],
darkorange:[255,140,0],
darkorchid:[153,50,204],
darkred:[139,0,0],
darksalmon:[233,150,122],
darkviolet:[148,0,211],
fuchsia:[255,0,255],
gold:[255,215,0],
green:[0,128,0],
indigo:[75,0,130],
khaki:[240,230,140],
lightblue:[173,216,230],
lightcyan:[224,255,255],
lightgreen:[144,238,144],
lightgrey:[211,211,211],
lightpink:[255,182,193],
lightyellow:[255,255,224],
lime:[0,255,0],
magenta:[255,0,255],
maroon:[128,0,0],
navy:[0,0,128],
olive:[128,128,0],
orange:[255,165,0],
pink:[255,192,203],
purple:[128,0,128],
violet:[128,0,128],
red:[255,0,0],
silver:[192,192,192],
white:[255,255,255],
yellow:[255,255,0]

---

Simply add the following snippet bellow your jquery script and enjoy:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/jquery.color-animation/1/mainfile"></script>

See the example

Reference for more info

---

I like using delay() to get this done, here's an example:

jQuery(element).animate({ backgroundColor: "#FCFCD8" },1).delay(1000).animate({ backgroundColor: "#EFEAEA" }, 1500);

This can be called by a function, with "element" being the element class/name/etc. The element will instantly appear with the #FCFCD8 background, hold for a second, then fade into #EFEAEA.

---

I stumbled across this page with the same issue, but the following problems:

I can't include an extra jQuery plugin file with my current set-up. I'm not comfortable pasting large blocks of code that I don't have time to read over and validate. I don't have access to the css. I hardly had any time for implementation (it was only a visual improvement to an admin page)

With the above that pretty much ruled out every answer. Considering my fade of colour was very simple, I used the following quick hack instead:

element
  .css('color','#FF0000')
;
$('<div />')
  .css('width',0)
  .animate(
    {'width':100},
    {
      duration: 3000,
      step:function(now){
        var v = (255 - 255/100 * now).toString(16);
        v = (v.length < 2 ? '0' : '') + v.substr(0,2);
        element.css('color','#'+v+'0000');
      }
    }
  )
;

The above creates a temporary div that is never placed in the document flow. I then use jQuery's built-in animation to animate a numeric property of that element - in this case width - which can represent a percentage (0 to 100). Then, using the step function, I transfer this numeric animation to the text colour with a simple hex cacluation.

The same could have been achieved with setInterval, but by using this method you can benefit from jQuery's animation methods - like .stop() - and you can use easing and duration.

Obivously it's only of use for simple colour fades, for more complicated colour conversions you'll need to use one of the above answers - or code your own colour fade math :)

---

Try this one:

(function($) {  

            var i = 0;  

            var someBackground = $(".someBackground");  
            var someColors = [ "yellow", "red", "blue", "pink" ];  


            someBackground.css('backgroundColor', someColors[0]);  

            window.setInterval(function() {  
                i = i == someColors.length ? 0 : i;  
                someBackground.animate({backgroundColor: someColors[i]}, 3000);  
                i++;  
            }, 30);  

})(jQuery);  

you can preview example here: http://jquerydemo.com/demo/jquery-animate-background-color.aspx

---

ColorBlend plug in does exactly what u want

http://plugins.jquery.com/project/colorBlend

Here is the my highlight code

$("#container").colorBlend([{
    colorList:["white",  "yellow"], 
    param:"background-color",
    cycles: 1,
    duration: 500
}]);

---

If you wan't to animate your background using only core jQuery functionality, try this:

jQuery(".usercontent").mouseover(function() {
      jQuery(".usercontent").animate({backgroundColor:'red'}, 'fast', 'linear', function() {
            jQuery(this).animate({
                backgroundColor: 'white'
            }, 'normal', 'linear', function() {
                jQuery(this).css({'background':'none', backgroundColor : ''});
            });
        });

---

To change background color with animate effect without jQueryUI:

selector.css({
    backgroundColor: "#555",
    transition: "background-color 1.8s"
});

---

Try to use it

-moz-transition: background .2s linear;
-webkit-transition: background .2s linear;
-o-transition: background .2s linear;
transition: background .2s linear;

---

Try this one:

jQuery(".usercontent").hover(function() {
    jQuery(this).animate({backgroundColor:"pink"}, "slow");
},function(){
    jQuery(this).animate({backgroundColor:"white"}, "slow");
});

Revised way with effects:

jQuery(".usercontent").hover(function() {

    jQuery(this).fadeout("slow",function(){
        jQuery(this).animate({"color","yellow"}, "slow");
    });
});

---