How do you fade in/out a background color using jquery?

How do I fade in text content with jQuery?

The point is to draw the user's attention to the message.

If you want to specifically animate the background color of an element, I believe you need to include jQueryUI framework. Then you can do:

$('#myElement').animate({backgroundColor: '#FF0000'}, 'slow');

jQueryUI has some built-in effects that may be useful to you as well.

http://jqueryui.com/demos/effect/

This exact functionality (3 second glow to highlight a message) is implemented in the jQuery UI as the highlight effect

https://api.jqueryui.com/highlight-effect/

Color and duration are variable

I know that the question was how to do it with Jquery, but you can achieve the same affect with simple css and just a little jquery...

For example, you have a div with 'box' class, add the following css

.box {
background-color: black;
-webkit-transition: background 0.5s linear;
-moz-transition: background 0.5s linear;
-ms-transition: background 0.5s linear;
-o-transition: background 0.5s linear;
transition: background 0.5s linear;
}

and then use AddClass function to add another class with different background color like 'box highlighted' or something like that with the following css:

.box.highlighted {
  background-color: white;
}

I am a beginner and maybe there are some disadvantages of this method but maybe it'll be helpful for somebody

Here's a codepen: https://codepen.io/anon/pen/baaLYB

Usually you can use the .animate() method to manipulate arbitrary CSS properties, but for background colors you need to use the color plugin. Once you include this plugin, you can use something like others have indicated $('div').animate({backgroundColor: '#f00'}) to change the color.

As others have written, some of this can be done using the jQuery UI library as well.

Using jQuery only (no UI library/plugin). Even jQuery can be easily eliminated

//Color row background in HSL space (easier to manipulate fading)
$('tr').eq(1).css('backgroundColor','hsl(0,100%,50%');

var d = 1000;
for(var i=50; i<=100; i=i+0.1){ //i represents the lightness
    d  += 10;
    (function(ii,dd){
        setTimeout(function(){
            $('tr').eq(1).css('backgroundColor','hsl(0,100%,'+ii+'%)'); 
        }, dd);    
    })(i,d);
}

Demo : http://jsfiddle.net/5NB3s/2/

• SetTimeout increases the lightness from 50% to 100%, essentially making the background white (you can choose any value depending on your color).

• SetTimeout is wrapped in an anonymous function for it to work properly in a loop ( reason )

Depending on your browser support, you could use a css animation. Browser support is IE10 and up for CSS animation. This is nice so you don't have to add jquery UI dependency if its only a small easter egg. If it is integral to your site (aka needed for IE9 and below) go with the jquery UI solution.

.your-animation {
	background-color: #fff !important;
    -webkit-animation: your-animation-name 1s ease 0s 1 alternate !important;
}
//You have to add the vendor prefix versions for it to work in Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
@-webkit-keyframes your-animation-name {
	from { background-color: #5EB4FE;}
	to {background-color: #fff;}
}
-moz-animation: your-animation-name 1s ease 0s 1 alternate !important;
}
@-moz-keyframes your-animation-name {
	from { background-color: #5EB4FE;}
	to {background-color: #fff;}
}
-ms-animation: your-animation-name 1s ease 0s 1 alternate !important;
}
@-ms-keyframes your-animation-name {
	from { background-color: #5EB4FE;}
	to {background-color: #fff;}
}
-o-animation: your-animation-name 1s ease 0s 1 alternate !important;
}
@-o-keyframes your-animation-name {
	from { background-color: #5EB4FE;}
	to {background-color: #fff;}
}
animation: your-animation-name 1s ease 0s 1 alternate !important;
}
@keyframes your-animation-name {
	from { background-color: #5EB4FE;}
	to {background-color: #fff;}
}

Next create a jQuery click event that adds the your-animation class to the element you wish to animate, triggering the background fading from one color to another:

$(".some-button").click(function(e){
    $(".place-to-add-class").addClass("your-animation");
});

I wrote a super simple jQuery plugin to accomplish something similar to this. I wanted something really light weight (it's 732 bytes minified), so including a big plugin or UI was out of the question for me. It's still a little rough around the edges, so feedback is welcome.

You can checkout the plugin here: https://gist.github.com/4569265.

Using the plugin, it would be a simple matter to create a highlight effect by changing the background color and then adding a setTimeout to fire the plugin to fade back to the original background color.

To fade between 2 colors using only simple javascript:

function Blend(a, b, alpha) {
  var aa = [
        parseInt('0x' + a.substring(1, 3)), 
        parseInt('0x' + a.substring(3, 5)), 
        parseInt('0x' + a.substring(5, 7))
    ];

  var bb = [
        parseInt('0x' + b.substring(1, 3)), 
        parseInt('0x' + b.substring(3, 5)), 
        parseInt('0x' + b.substring(5, 7))
    ];

  r = '0' + Math.round(aa[0] + (bb[0] - aa[0])*alpha).toString(16);
  g = '0' + Math.round(aa[1] + (bb[1] - aa[1])*alpha).toString(16);
  b = '0' + Math.round(aa[2] + (bb[2] - aa[2])*alpha).toString(16);

  return '#'
        + r.substring(r.length - 2)
        + g.substring(g.length - 2)
        + b.substring(b.length - 2);
}

function fadeText(cl1, cl2, elm){
  var t = [];
  var steps = 100;
  var delay = 3000;
  
  for (var i = 0; i < steps; i++) {
    (function(j) {
         t[j] = setTimeout(function() {
          var a  = j/steps;
          var color = Blend(cl1,cl2,a);
          elm.style.color = color;
         }, j*delay/steps);
    })(i);
  }

  return t;
}

var cl1 = "#ffffff";
var cl2 = "#c00000";
var elm = document.getElementById("note");
T  = fadeText(cl1,cl2,elm);

Source: http://www.pagecolumn.com/javascript/fade_text.htm

javascript fade to white without jQuery or other library:

<div id="x" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,105)">hello world</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var gEvent=setInterval("toWhite();", 100);
function toWhite(){
    var obj=document.getElementById("x");
    var unBlue=10+parseInt(obj.style.backgroundColor.split(",")[2].replace(/\D/g,""));
    if(unBlue>245) unBlue=255;
    if(unBlue<256) obj.style.backgroundColor="rgb(255,255,"+unBlue+")";
    else clearInterval(gEvent)
}
</script>

In printing, yellow is minus blue, so starting with the 3rd rgb element (blue) at less than 255 starts out with a yellow highlight. Then the 10+ in setting the var unBlue value increments the minus blue until it reaches 255.