jQuery animate div background color gradient?

Question

I'm trying to build a background animation with jQuery which changes from one gradient to another. I know you can use the .animate() function to change solid background colors, but can this also be done for gradients?

Here's a good example from some old Digg-style comments. I'm looking to do something like this animating from green to yellow

Answer 1

UPDATE: These days, all major browsers support CSS animations, which are way more reliable than jQuery. For reference, see Rohit's answer.

OLD ANSWER:

Animating the backgrounds directly is nearly impossible with jQuery, at least I could think of no way. There is a way though with this:

-webkit-transition: background 5s ;
-moz-transition: background 5s ;
-ms-transition: background 5s ;
-o-transition: background 5s ;
transition: background 5s ;

That ensures that there is a transition. You could for instance do that in CSS:

.background_animation_element{

    -webkit-transition: background 5s ;
    -moz-transition: background 5s ;
    -ms-transition: background 5s ;
    -o-transition: background 5s ;
    transition: background 5s ;

    background: rgb(71,234,46);
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(71,234,46,1) 0%, rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(71,234,46,1)), color-stop(100%,rgba(63,63,63,1)));
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(71,234,46,1) 0%,rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(71,234,46,1) 0%,rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(71,234,46,1) 0%,rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    background: linear-gradient(top,  rgba(71,234,46,1) 0%,rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#47ea2e', endColorstr='#3f3f3f',GradientType=0 );

}

.background_animation_element.yellow{

    background: rgb(247,247,49);
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(247,247,49,1) 0%, rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(247,247,49,1)), color-stop(100%,rgba(63,63,63,1)));
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(247,247,49,1) 0%,rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    background: -o-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(247,247,49,1) 0%,rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(top,  rgba(247,247,49,1) 0%,rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    background: linear-gradient(top,  rgba(247,247,49,1) 0%,rgba(63,63,63,1) 100%);
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#f7f731', endColorstr='#3f3f3f',GradientType=0 );

}

And, using jQuery, either add or remove the yellow class:

$('.background_animation_element').addClass('yellow');

That would ensure a gradual transition due to the transition duration property in the CSS file.

Answer 2

Animating the background with jQuery is definitely feasible, as seen in this CodePen (not my creation, but very slick): http://codepen.io/quasimondo/pen/lDdrF

The CodePen example uses some slick bitshifting and other tricks to determine the colors, but he just defines a function (updateGradient) that modifies the background's CSS and then wraps it in a setInterval.

The big takeaway from the updateGradient is the following:

 $('#gradient').css({
     background: "-webkit-gradient(linear, left top, right top, from("+color1+"),
   to("+color2+"))"}).css({
     background: "-moz-linear-gradient(left, "+color1+" 0%, "+color2+" 100%)"});

Then just set the color variables dynamically and you're gravy.

Answer 3

Try this, work great -

div{
     display:block; 
     width:500px; 
     height:250px;
     background: linear-gradient(270deg, #509591, #7bc446, #c0de9e, #b9dca4);
     background-size: 800% 800%;

     -webkit-animation: AnimationName 30s ease infinite;
     -moz-animation: AnimationName 30s ease infinite;
     animation: AnimationName 30s ease infinite;
}


@-webkit-keyframes AnimationName {
    0%{background-position:0% 50%}
    50%{background-position:100% 50%}
    100%{background-position:0% 50%}
}
@-moz-keyframes AnimationName {
    0%{background-position:0% 50%}
    50%{background-position:100% 50%}
    100%{background-position:0% 50%}
}
@-o-keyframes AnimationName {
    0%{background-position:0% 50%}
    50%{background-position:100% 50%}
    100%{background-position:0% 50%}
}
@keyframes AnimationName {
    0%{background-position:0% 50%}
    50%{background-position:100% 50%}
    100%{background-position:0% 50%}
}

<div></div>

source - https://www.gradient-animator.com/

Answer 4

I needed it too, i searched it in google. But didn't find any solution, so i solve this. I do with this dirty way, but worked :) This is my code:

interval = 0;
gradient_percent = 0;
interval_value = 5;
var interval_gradient = setInterval(function(){
    if(interval == 10) clearInterval(interval_gradient);

    gradient_percent += interval_value;
    $('.slider-text').css('background', 'linear-gradient(to right, #373535 '+gradient_percent+'%,rgba(0,0,0,0) 100%)');

    ++interval;
}, 50);