Create a lighter shade of a hex color:
function hexLighter($hex,$factor = 30)
{
$new_hex = '';
$base['R'] = hexdec($hex{0}.$hex{1});
$base['G'] = hexdec($hex{2}.$hex{3});
$base['B'] = hexdec($hex{4}.$hex{5});
foreach ($base as $k => $v)
{
$amount = 255 - $v;
$amount = $amount / 100;
$amount = round($amount * $factor);
$new_decimal = $v + $amount;
$new_hex_component = dechex($new_decimal);
if(strlen($new_hex_component) < 2)
{ $new_hex_component = "0".$new_hex_component; }
$new_hex .= $new_hex_component;
}
return $new_hex;
}
?>
Example, making a new colour 50% lighter than the first:
$myCol = "FFCC99";
$newCol = hexLighter($myCol, 50);
?>