@ctrl/tinycolor

What is @ctrl/tinycolor?

The @ctrl/tinycolor npm package is a comprehensive tool for color manipulation and conversion. It allows users to perform a variety of operations on colors, including parsing colors in different formats, converting between color models (e.g., RGB, HSL, HSV), and manipulating colors (e.g., lighten, darken, saturate).

What are @ctrl/tinycolor's main functionalities?

Color Parsing

This feature allows the parsing of colors from strings in various formats, including HEX, RGB, RGBA, HSL, HSLA, etc. The code sample demonstrates how to parse a color from a HEX string and an RGBA string.

"const tinycolor = require('@ctrl/tinycolor');\nconst color1 = tinycolor('#f00');\nconst color2 = tinycolor('rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5)');"

Color Conversion

This feature enables the conversion of colors between different models and formats. The code sample shows how to convert a named color ('red') to its HSV representation and then to an RGB string.

"const tinycolor = require('@ctrl/tinycolor');\nconst color = tinycolor('red');\nconst hsvColor = color.toHsv();\nconst rgbString = color.toRgbString();"

Color Manipulation

This feature provides methods to manipulate colors, such as lightening, darkening, and desaturating. The code sample demonstrates how to lighten and desaturate a color.

"const tinycolor = require('@ctrl/tinycolor');\nconst color = tinycolor('red');\nconst lighterColor = color.lighten().toString();\nconst desaturatedColor = color.desaturate().toString();"

Other packages similar to @ctrl/tinycolor

chroma-js

chroma-js is a powerful library for all kinds of color conversions and color scales. It offers similar functionalities to @ctrl/tinycolor but with additional features for generating color scales and working with color spaces more extensively.

color

The color package is another tool for color manipulation and conversion, supporting a wide range of color models. It is similar to @ctrl/tinycolor but differs in its API design and the way it handles color objects and conversions.

README

tinycolor

TinyColor is a small library for color manipulation and conversion

A fork of tinycolor2 by Brian Grinstead

DEMO: https://tinycolor.vercel.app

Changes from tinycolor2

• reformatted into TypeScript / es2015 and requires node >= 8
  • tree shakeable "module" export and no package sideEffects
• tinycolor is now exported as a class called TinyColor
• new random, an implementation of randomColor by David Merfield that returns a TinyColor object
• several functions moved out of the tinycolor class and are no longer TinyColor.<function>
  • readability, fromRatio moved out
  • random moved out and renamed to legacyRandom
  • toFilter has been moved out and renamed to toMsFilter
• mix, equals use the current TinyColor object as the first parameter
• added polyad colors tinycolor PR 126
• color wheel values (360) are allowed to over or under-spin and still return valid colors tinycolor PR 108
• added tint() and shade() tinycolor PR 159
• isValid, format are now propertys instead of a function

Install

npm install @ctrl/tinycolor

Use

import { TinyColor } from '@ctrl/tinycolor';
const color = new TinyColor('red').toHexString(); // '#ff0000'

Accepted String Input

The string parsing is very permissive. It is meant to make typing a color as input as easy as possible. All commas, percentages, parenthesis are optional, and most input allow either 0-1, 0%-100%, or 0-n (where n is either 100, 255, or 360 depending on the value).

HSL and HSV both require either 0%-100% or 0-1 for the S/L/V properties. The H (hue) can have values between 0%-100% or 0-360.

RGB input requires either 0-255 or 0%-100%.

If you call tinycolor.fromRatio, RGB and Hue input can also accept 0-1.

Here are some examples of string input:

Hex, 8-digit (RGBA) Hex

new TinyColor('#000');
new TinyColor('000');
new TinyColor('#369C');
new TinyColor('369C');
new TinyColor('#f0f0f6');
new TinyColor('f0f0f6');
new TinyColor('#f0f0f688');
new TinyColor('f0f0f688');

RGB, RGBA

new TinyColor('rgb (255, 0, 0)');
new TinyColor('rgb 255 0 0');
new TinyColor('rgba (255, 0, 0, .5)');
new TinyColor({ r: 255, g: 0, b: 0 });

import { fromRatio } from '@ctrl/tinycolor';
fromRatio({ r: 1, g: 0, b: 0 });
fromRatio({ r: 0.5, g: 0.5, b: 0.5 });

HSL, HSLA

new TinyColor('hsl(0, 100%, 50%)');
new TinyColor('hsla(0, 100%, 50%, .5)');
new TinyColor('hsl(0, 100%, 50%)');
new TinyColor('hsl 0 1.0 0.5');
new TinyColor({ h: 0, s: 1, l: 0.5 });

HSV, HSVA

new TinyColor('hsv(0, 100%, 100%)');
new TinyColor('hsva(0, 100%, 100%, .5)');
new TinyColor('hsv (0 100% 100%)');
new TinyColor('hsv 0 1 1');
new TinyColor({ h: 0, s: 100, v: 100 });

Named

new TinyColor('RED');
new TinyColor('blanchedalmond');
new TinyColor('darkblue');

Number

new TinyColor(0x0);
new TinyColor(0xaabbcc);

Accepted Object Input

If you are calling this from code, you may want to use object input. Here are some examples of the different types of accepted object inputs:

{ r: 255, g: 0, b: 0 }
{ r: 255, g: 0, b: 0, a: .5 }
{ h: 0, s: 100, l: 50 }
{ h: 0, s: 100, v: 100 }

Properties

originalInput

The original input passed into the constructer used to create the tinycolor instance

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.originalInput; // "red"
color = new TinyColor({ r: 255, g: 255, b: 255 });
color.originalInput; // "{r: 255, g: 255, b: 255}"

format

Returns the format used to create the tinycolor instance

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.format; // "name"
color = new TinyColor({ r: 255, g: 255, b: 255 });
color.format; // "rgb"

isValid

A boolean indicating whether the color was successfully parsed. Note: if the color is not valid then it will act like black when being used with other methods.

const color1 = new TinyColor('red');
color1.isValid; // true
color1.toHexString(); // "#ff0000"

const color2 = new TinyColor('not a color');
color2.isValid; // false
color2.toString(); // "#000000"

Methods

getBrightness

Returns the perceived brightness of a color, from 0-255, as defined by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 1.0).

const color1 = new TinyColor('#fff');
color1.getBrightness(); // 255

const color2 = new TinyColor('#000');
color2.getBrightness(); // 0

isLight

Return a boolean indicating whether the color's perceived brightness is light.

const color1 = new TinyColor('#fff');
color1.isLight(); // true

const color2 = new TinyColor('#000');
color2.isLight(); // false

isDark

Return a boolean indicating whether the color's perceived brightness is dark.

const color1 = new TinyColor('#fff');
color1.isDark(); // false

const color2 = new TinyColor('#000');
color2.isDark(); // true

getLuminance

Returns the perceived luminance of a color, from 0-1 as defined by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2.0).

const color1 = new TinyColor('#fff');
color1.getLuminance(); // 1

const color2 = new TinyColor('#000');
color2.getLuminance(); // 0

getAlpha

Returns the alpha value of a color, from 0-1.

const color1 = new TinyColor('rgba(255, 0, 0, .5)');
color1.getAlpha(); // 0.5

const color2 = new TinyColor('rgb(255, 0, 0)');
color2.getAlpha(); // 1

const color3 = new TinyColor('transparent');
color3.getAlpha(); // 0

setAlpha

Sets the alpha value on a current color. Accepted range is in between 0-1.

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.getAlpha(); // 1
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.getAlpha(); // .5
color.toRgbString(); // "rgba(255, 0, 0, .5)"

onBackground

Compute how the color would appear on a background. When the color is fully transparent (i.e. getAlpha() == 0), the result will be the background color. When the color is not transparent at all (i.e. getAlpha() == 1), the result will be the color itself. Otherwise you will get a computed result.

const color = new TinyColor('rgba(255, 0, 0, .5)');
const computedColor = color.onBackground('rgb(0, 0, 255)');
computedColor.toRgbString(); // "rgb(128, 0, 128)"

String Representations

The following methods will return a property for the alpha value, which can be ignored: toHsv, toHsl, toRgb

toHsv

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toHsv(); // { h: 0, s: 1, v: 1, a: 1 }

toHsvString

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toHsvString(); // "hsv(0, 100%, 100%)"
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.toHsvString(); // "hsva(0, 100%, 100%, 0.5)"

toHsl

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toHsl(); // { h: 0, s: 1, l: 0.5, a: 1 }

toHslString

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toHslString(); // "hsl(0, 100%, 50%)"
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.toHslString(); // "hsla(0, 100%, 50%, 0.5)"

toNumber

new TinyColor('#aabbcc').toNumber() === 0xaabbcc // true
new TinyColor('rgb(1, 1, 1)').toNumber() === (1 << 16) + (1 << 8) + 1 // true

toHex

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toHex(); // "ff0000"

toHexString

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toHexString(); // "#ff0000"

toHex8

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toHex8(); // "ff0000ff"

toHex8String

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toHex8String(); // "#ff0000ff"

toHexShortString

const color1 = new TinyColor('#ff000000');
color1.toHexShortString(); // "#ff000000"
color1.toHexShortString(true); // "#f000"

const color2 = new TinyColor('#ff0000ff');
color2.toHexShortString(); // "#ff0000"
color2.toHexShortString(true); // "#f00"

toRgb

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toRgb(); // { r: 255, g: 0, b: 0, a: 1 }

toRgbString

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toRgbString(); // "rgb(255, 0, 0)"
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.toRgbString(); // "rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5)"

toPercentageRgb

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toPercentageRgb(); // { r: "100%", g: "0%", b: "0%", a: 1 }

toPercentageRgbString

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toPercentageRgbString(); // "rgb(100%, 0%, 0%)"
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.toPercentageRgbString(); // "rgba(100%, 0%, 0%, 0.5)"

toName

const color = new TinyColor('red');
color.toName(); // "red"

toFilter

import { toMsFilter } from '@ctrl/tinycolor';
toMsFilter('red', 'blue'); // 'progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#ffff0000,endColorstr=#ff0000ff)'

toString

Print to a string, depending on the input format. You can also override this by passing one of "rgb", "prgb", "hex6", "hex3", "hex8", "name", "hsl", "hsv" into the function.

const color1 = new TinyColor('red');
color1.toString(); // "red"
color1.toString('hsv'); // "hsv(0, 100%, 100%)"

const color2 = new TinyColor('rgb(255, 0, 0)');
color2.toString(); // "rgb(255, 0, 0)"
color2.setAlpha(0.5);
color2.toString(); // "rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5)"

Color Modification

These methods manipulate the current color, and return it for chaining. For instance:

new TinyColor('red')
  .lighten()
  .desaturate()
  .toHexString(); // '#f53d3d'

lighten

lighten: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Lighten the color a given amount, from 0 to 100. Providing 100 will always return white.

new TinyColor('#f00').lighten().toString(); // '#ff3333'
new TinyColor('#f00').lighten(100).toString(); // '#ffffff'

brighten

brighten: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Brighten the color a given amount, from 0 to 100.

new TinyColor('#f00').brighten().toString(); // '#ff1919'

darken

darken: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Darken the color a given amount, from 0 to 100. Providing 100 will always return black.

new TinyColor('#f00').darken().toString(); // '#cc0000'
new TinyColor('#f00').darken(100).toString(); // '#000000'

tint

Mix the color with pure white, from 0 to 100. Providing 0 will do nothing, providing 100 will always return white.

new TinyColor('#f00').tint().toString(); // "#ff1a1a"
new TinyColor('#f00').tint(100).toString(); // "#ffffff"

shade

Mix the color with pure black, from 0 to 100. Providing 0 will do nothing, providing 100 will always return black.

new TinyColor('#f00').shade().toString(); // "#e60000"
new TinyColor('#f00').shade(100).toString(); // "#000000"

desaturate

desaturate: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Desaturate the color a given amount, from 0 to 100. Providing 100 will is the same as calling greyscale.

new TinyColor('#f00').desaturate().toString(); // "#f20d0d"
new TinyColor('#f00').desaturate(100).toString(); // "#808080"

saturate

saturate: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Saturate the color a given amount, from 0 to 100.

new TinyColor('hsl(0, 10%, 50%)').saturate().toString(); // "hsl(0, 20%, 50%)"

greyscale

greyscale: function() -> TinyColor. Completely desaturates a color into greyscale. Same as calling desaturate(100).

new TinyColor('#f00').greyscale().toString(); // "#808080"

spin

spin: function(amount = 0) -> TinyColor. Spin the hue a given amount, from -360 to 360. Calling with 0, 360, or -360 will do nothing (since it sets the hue back to what it was before).

new TinyColor('#f00').spin(180).toString(); // "#00ffff"
new TinyColor('#f00').spin(-90).toString(); // "#7f00ff"
new TinyColor('#f00').spin(90).toString(); // "#80ff00"

// spin(0) and spin(360) do nothing
new TinyColor('#f00').spin(0).toString(); // "#ff0000"
new TinyColor('#f00').spin(360).toString(); // "#ff0000"

mix

mix: function(amount = 50) => TinyColor. Mix the current color a given amount with another color, from 0 to 100. 0 means no mixing (return current color).

let color1 = new TinyColor('#f0f');
let color2 = new TinyColor('#0f0');

color1.mix(color2).toHexString(); // #808080

Color Combinations

Combination functions return an array of TinyColor objects unless otherwise noted.

analogous

analogous: function(results = 6, slices = 30) -> array<TinyColor>.

const colors = new TinyColor('#f00').analogous();
colors.map(t => t.toHexString()); // [ "#ff0000", "#ff0066", "#ff0033", "#ff0000", "#ff3300", "#ff6600" ]

monochromatic

monochromatic: function(, results = 6) -> array<TinyColor>.

const colors = new TinyColor('#f00').monochromatic();
colors.map(t => t.toHexString()); // [ "#ff0000", "#2a0000", "#550000", "#800000", "#aa0000", "#d40000" ]

splitcomplement

splitcomplement: function() -> array<TinyColor>.

const colors = new TinyColor('#f00').splitcomplement();
colors.map(t => t.toHexString()); // [ "#ff0000", "#ccff00", "#0066ff" ]

triad

triad: function() -> array<TinyColor>. Alias for polyad(3).

const colors = new TinyColor('#f00').triad();
colors.map(t => t.toHexString()); // [ "#ff0000", "#00ff00", "#0000ff" ]

tetrad

tetrad: function() -> array<TinyColor>. Alias for polyad(4).

const colors = new TinyColor('#f00').tetrad();
colors.map(t => t.toHexString()); // [ "#ff0000", "#80ff00", "#00ffff", "#7f00ff" ]

polyad

polyad: function(number) -> array<TinyColor>.

const colors = new TinyColor('#f00').polyad(4);
colors.map(t => t.toHexString()); // [ "#ff0000", "#80ff00", "#00ffff", "#7f00ff" ]

complement

complement: function() -> TinyColor.

new TinyColor('#f00').complement().toHexString(); // "#00ffff"

Color Utilities

equals

let color1 = new TinyColor('red');
let color2 = new TinyColor('#f00');

color1.equals(color2); // true

random

Returns a random TinyColor object. This is an implementation of randomColor by David Merfield. The difference input parsing and output formatting are handled by TinyColor.

You can pass an options object to influence the type of color it produces. The options object accepts the following properties:

• hue – Controls the hue of the generated color. You can pass a string representing a color name: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink and monochrome are currently supported. If you pass a hexidecimal color string such as #00FFFF, its hue value will be extracted and used to generate colors.
• luminosity – Controls the luminosity of the generated color. You can specify a string containing bright, light or dark.
• count – An integer which specifies the number of colors to generate.
• seed – An integer which when passed will cause randomColor to return the same color each time.
• alpha – A decimal between 0 and 1. Only relevant when using a format with an alpha channel (rgba and hsla). Defaults to a random value.

import { random } from '@ctrl/tinycolor';
// Returns a TinyColor for an attractive color
random();

// Returns an array of ten green colors
random({
  count: 10,
  hue: 'green',
});

// Returns a TinyColor object in a light blue
random({
  luminosity: 'light',
  hue: 'blue',
});

// Returns a TinyColor object in a 'truly random' color
random({
  luminosity: 'random',
  hue: 'random',
});

// Returns a dark RGB color with specified alpha
random({
  luminosity: 'dark',
  alpha: 0.5,
});

Readability

TinyColor assesses readability based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2.0).

readability

readability: function(TinyColor, TinyColor) -> number. Returns the contrast ratio between two colors.

import { readability } from '@ctrl/tinycolor';
readability('#000', '#000'); // 1
readability('#000', '#111'); // 1.1121078324840545
readability('#000', '#fff'); // 21

Use the values in your own calculations, or use one of the convenience functions below.

isReadable

isReadable: function(TinyColor, TinyColor, Object) -> Boolean. Ensure that foreground and background color combinations meet WCAG guidelines. Object is optional, defaulting to {level: "AA",size: "small"}. level can be "AA" or "AAA" and size can be "small" or "large".

Here are links to read more about the AA and AAA requirements.

import { isReadable } from '@ctrl/tinycolor';
isReadable("#000", "#111"); // false
isReadable("#ff0088", "#5c1a72", { level: "AA", size: "small" }); // false
isReadable("#ff0088", "#5c1a72", { level: "AA", size: "large" }), // true

mostReadable

mostReadable: function(TinyColor, [TinyColor, TinyColor ...], Object) -> Boolean. Given a base color and a list of possible foreground or background colors for that base, returns the most readable color. If none of the colors in the list is readable, mostReadable will return the better of black or white if includeFallbackColors:true.

import { mostReadable } from '@ctrl/tinycolor';
mostReadable('#000', ['#f00', '#0f0', '#00f']).toHexString(); // "#00ff00"
mostReadable('#123', ['#124', '#125'], { includeFallbackColors: false }).toHexString(); // "#112255"
mostReadable('#123', ['#124', '#125'], { includeFallbackColors: true }).toHexString(); // "#ffffff"
mostReadable('#ff0088', ['#2e0c3a'], {
  includeFallbackColors: true,
  level: 'AAA',
  size: 'large',
}).toHexString(); // "#2e0c3a",
mostReadable('#ff0088', ['#2e0c3a'], {
  includeFallbackColors: true,
  level: 'AAA',
  size: 'small',
}).toHexString(); // "#000000",

See index.html in the project for a demo.

Common operations

clone

clone: function() -> TinyColor. Instantiate a new TinyColor object with the same color. Any changes to the new one won't affect the old one.

const color1 = new TinyColor('#F00');
const color2 = color1.clone();
color2.setAlpha(0.5);

color1.toString(); // "#ff0000"
color2.toString(); // "rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5)"