color gradient table generator

At first, I was using the hexagonal color-cube in WORD to create gradients, but that didn't have the resolution nor flexibility that I wanted. This PHP app takes 3 input parameters: beginning color, ending color, and the number of steps requested and interpolates between them. Step 0 is always the beginning color, and step n is the ending color.

theory of operation

The beginning and ending colors are captured from the GET request to the server. After range checking of the colors and the number of steps requested, a loop is run and the RGB components are linearly interpolated according to the current step of the loop. The color generated is used as the background of the table row.

The color values are provided on each row in both decimal and hexadecimal. The ordering for the values in black text are: index number, percentage of interpolation, decimal value of the background color, hexadecimal value of the background color. The ordering of the white text is a mirror of the ordering of the black text. Obviously, the black and white provide enough redundancy so that at least one set of values is readable (having high enough contrast with the background to be read) no matter what begin and end colors are chosen.

Source code for the color gradient generator may be found here. It's a PHP file, but it has a .txt final extension to make it easier to download from the web server. A final caveat: the html, head, and body tags are not included in this file. The file was meant to be included into a host document. In fact, this document hosts the source file directly with a PHP include.

usage

Provide values for color begin, color end, and number of steps, and click on the 'generate color gradient' button.

variable:	number type	minimum	maximum	value
color begin:	hex	0x000000	0xFFFFFF
color end:	hex	0x000000	0xFFFFFF
number of steps:	dec	1	255

values are: (color begin: 0xF11919), (color end: 0xFF8A00), (number of steps: 175)

0	0%	15800601	F11919	F11919	15800601	0%	0
1	0%	15800600	F11918	F11918	15800600	0%	1
2	1%	15800856	F11A18	F11A18	15800856	1%	2
3	1%	15800856	F11A18	F11A18	15800856	1%	3
4	2%	15801112	F11B18	F11B18	15801112	2%	4
5	2%	15801368	F11C18	F11C18	15801368	2%	5
6	3%	15801368	F11C18	F11C18	15801368	3%	6
7	4%	15801624	F11D18	F11D18	15801624	4%	7
8	4%	15801879	F11E17	F11E17	15801879	4%	8
9	5%	15801879	F11E17	F11E17	15801879	5%	9
10	5%	15802135	F11F17	F11F17	15802135	5%	10
11	6%	15802391	F12017	F12017	15802391	6%	11
12	6%	15802391	F12017	F12017	15802391	6%	12
13	7%	15868183	F22117	F22117	15868183	7%	13
14	8%	15868439	F22217	F22217	15868439	8%	14
15	8%	15868438	F22216	F22216	15868438	8%	15
16	9%	15868694	F22316	F22316	15868694	9%	16
17	9%	15868694	F22316	F22316	15868694	9%	17
18	10%	15868950	F22416	F22416	15868950	10%	18
19	10%	15869206	F22516	F22516	15869206	10%	19
20	11%	15869206	F22516	F22516	15869206	11%	20
21	12%	15869462	F22616	F22616	15869462	12%	21
22	12%	15869717	F22715	F22715	15869717	12%	22
23	13%	15869717	F22715	F22715	15869717	13%	23
24	13%	15869973	F22815	F22815	15869973	13%	24
25	14%	15935765	F32915	F32915	15935765	14%	25
26	14%	15935765	F32915	F32915	15935765	14%	26
27	15%	15936021	F32A15	F32A15	15936021	15%	27
28	16%	15936277	F32B15	F32B15	15936277	16%	28
29	16%	15936276	F32B14	F32B14	15936276	16%	29
30	17%	15936532	F32C14	F32C14	15936532	17%	30
31	17%	15936788	F32D14	F32D14	15936788	17%	31
32	18%	15936788	F32D14	F32D14	15936788	18%	32
33	18%	15937044	F32E14	F32E14	15937044	18%	33
34	19%	15937044	F32E14	F32E14	15937044	19%	34
35	20%	15937300	F32F14	F32F14	15937300	20%	35
36	20%	15937555	F33013	F33013	15937555	20%	36
37	21%	15937555	F33013	F33013	15937555	21%	37
38	21%	16003347	F43113	F43113	16003347	21%	38
39	22%	16003603	F43213	F43213	16003603	22%	39
40	22%	16003603	F43213	F43213	16003603	22%	40
41	23%	16003859	F43313	F43313	16003859	23%	41
42	24%	16004115	F43413	F43413	16004115	24%	42
43	24%	16004114	F43412	F43412	16004114	24%	43
44	25%	16004370	F43512	F43512	16004370	25%	44
45	25%	16004626	F43612	F43612	16004626	25%	45
46	26%	16004626	F43612	F43612	16004626	26%	46
47	26%	16004882	F43712	F43712	16004882	26%	47
48	27%	16004882	F43712	F43712	16004882	27%	48
49	28%	16005138	F43812	F43812	16005138	28%	49
50	28%	16070929	F53911	F53911	16070929	28%	50
51	29%	16070929	F53911	F53911	16070929	29%	51
52	29%	16071185	F53A11	F53A11	16071185	29%	52
53	30%	16071441	F53B11	F53B11	16071441	30%	53
54	30%	16071441	F53B11	F53B11	16071441	30%	54
55	31%	16071697	F53C11	F53C11	16071697	31%	55
56	32%	16071953	F53D11	F53D11	16071953	32%	56
57	32%	16071952	F53D10	F53D10	16071952	32%	57
58	33%	16072208	F53E10	F53E10	16072208	33%	58
59	33%	16072464	F53F10	F53F10	16072464	33%	59
60	34%	16072464	F53F10	F53F10	16072464	34%	60
61	34%	16072720	F54010	F54010	16072720	34%	61
62	35%	16072976	F54110	F54110	16072976	35%	62
63	36%	16138512	F64110	F64110	16138512	36%	63
64	36%	16138767	F6420F	F6420F	16138767	36%	64
65	37%	16138767	F6420F	F6420F	16138767	37%	65
66	37%	16139023	F6430F	F6430F	16139023	37%	66
67	38%	16139279	F6440F	F6440F	16139279	38%	67
68	38%	16139279	F6440F	F6440F	16139279	38%	68
69	39%	16139535	F6450F	F6450F	16139535	39%	69
70	40%	16139791	F6460F	F6460F	16139791	40%	70
71	40%	16139790	F6460E	F6460E	16139790	40%	71
72	41%	16140046	F6470E	F6470E	16140046	41%	72
73	41%	16140302	F6480E	F6480E	16140302	41%	73
74	42%	16140302	F6480E	F6480E	16140302	42%	74
75	42%	16206094	F7490E	F7490E	16206094	42%	75
76	43%	16206350	F74A0E	F74A0E	16206350	43%	76
77	44%	16206350	F74A0E	F74A0E	16206350	44%	77
78	44%	16206605	F74B0D	F74B0D	16206605	44%	78
79	45%	16206861	F74C0D	F74C0D	16206861	45%	79
80	45%	16206861	F74C0D	F74C0D	16206861	45%	80
81	46%	16207117	F74D0D	F74D0D	16207117	46%	81
82	46%	16207117	F74D0D	F74D0D	16207117	46%	82
83	47%	16207373	F74E0D	F74E0D	16207373	47%	83
84	48%	16207629	F74F0D	F74F0D	16207629	48%	84
85	48%	16207628	F74F0C	F74F0C	16207628	48%	85
86	49%	16207884	F7500C	F7500C	16207884	49%	86
87	49%	16208140	F7510C	F7510C	16208140	49%	87
88	50%	16273676	F8510C	F8510C	16273676	50%	88
89	50%	16273932	F8520C	F8520C	16273932	50%	89
90	51%	16274188	F8530C	F8530C	16274188	51%	90
91	52%	16274188	F8530C	F8530C	16274188	52%	91
92	52%	16274443	F8540B	F8540B	16274443	52%	92
93	53%	16274699	F8550B	F8550B	16274699	53%	93
94	53%	16274699	F8550B	F8550B	16274699	53%	94
95	54%	16274955	F8560B	F8560B	16274955	54%	95
96	54%	16274955	F8560B	F8560B	16274955	54%	96
97	55%	16275211	F8570B	F8570B	16275211	55%	97
98	56%	16275466	F8580A	F8580A	16275466	56%	98
99	56%	16275466	F8580A	F8580A	16275466	56%	99
100	57%	16341258	F9590A	F9590A	16341258	57%	100
101	57%	16341514	F95A0A	F95A0A	16341514	57%	101
102	58%	16341514	F95A0A	F95A0A	16341514	58%	102
103	58%	16341770	F95B0A	F95B0A	16341770	58%	103
104	59%	16342026	F95C0A	F95C0A	16342026	59%	104
105	60%	16342026	F95C0A	F95C0A	16342026	60%	105
106	60%	16342281	F95D09	F95D09	16342281	60%	106
107	61%	16342537	F95E09	F95E09	16342537	61%	107
108	61%	16342537	F95E09	F95E09	16342537	61%	108
109	62%	16342793	F95F09	F95F09	16342793	62%	109
110	62%	16343049	F96009	F96009	16343049	62%	110
111	63%	16343049	F96009	F96009	16343049	63%	111
112	64%	16343305	F96109	F96109	16343305	64%	112
113	64%	16408840	FA6108	FA6108	16408840	64%	113
114	65%	16409096	FA6208	FA6208	16409096	65%	114
115	65%	16409352	FA6308	FA6308	16409352	65%	115
116	66%	16409352	FA6308	FA6308	16409352	66%	116
117	66%	16409608	FA6408	FA6408	16409608	66%	117
118	67%	16409864	FA6508	FA6508	16409864	67%	118
119	68%	16409863	FA6507	FA6507	16409863	68%	119
120	68%	16410119	FA6607	FA6607	16410119	68%	120
121	69%	16410375	FA6707	FA6707	16410375	69%	121
122	69%	16410375	FA6707	FA6707	16410375	69%	122
123	70%	16410631	FA6807	FA6807	16410631	70%	123
124	70%	16410887	FA6907	FA6907	16410887	70%	124
125	71%	16476423	FB6907	FB6907	16476423	71%	125
126	72%	16476679	FB6A07	FB6A07	16476679	72%	126
127	72%	16476934	FB6B06	FB6B06	16476934	72%	127
128	73%	16476934	FB6B06	FB6B06	16476934	73%	128
129	73%	16477190	FB6C06	FB6C06	16477190	73%	129
130	74%	16477190	FB6C06	FB6C06	16477190	74%	130
131	74%	16477446	FB6D06	FB6D06	16477446	74%	131
132	75%	16477702	FB6E06	FB6E06	16477702	75%	132
133	76%	16477702	FB6E06	FB6E06	16477702	76%	133
134	76%	16477957	FB6F05	FB6F05	16477957	76%	134
135	77%	16478213	FB7005	FB7005	16478213	77%	135
136	77%	16478213	FB7005	FB7005	16478213	77%	136
137	78%	16478469	FB7105	FB7105	16478469	78%	137
138	78%	16544261	FC7205	FC7205	16544261	78%	138
139	79%	16544261	FC7205	FC7205	16544261	79%	139
140	80%	16544516	FC7304	FC7304	16544516	80%	140
141	80%	16544772	FC7404	FC7404	16544772	80%	141
142	81%	16544772	FC7404	FC7404	16544772	81%	142
143	81%	16545028	FC7504	FC7504	16545028	81%	143
144	82%	16545028	FC7504	FC7504	16545028	82%	144
145	82%	16545284	FC7604	FC7604	16545284	82%	145
146	83%	16545540	FC7704	FC7704	16545540	83%	146
147	84%	16545540	FC7704	FC7704	16545540	84%	147
148	84%	16545795	FC7803	FC7803	16545795	84%	148
149	85%	16546051	FC7903	FC7903	16546051	85%	149
150	85%	16611587	FD7903	FD7903	16611587	85%	150
151	86%	16611843	FD7A03	FD7A03	16611843	86%	151
152	86%	16612099	FD7B03	FD7B03	16612099	86%	152
153	87%	16612099	FD7B03	FD7B03	16612099	87%	153
154	88%	16612355	FD7C03	FD7C03	16612355	88%	154
155	88%	16612610	FD7D02	FD7D02	16612610	88%	155
156	89%	16612610	FD7D02	FD7D02	16612610	89%	156
157	89%	16612866	FD7E02	FD7E02	16612866	89%	157
158	90%	16613122	FD7F02	FD7F02	16613122	90%	158
159	90%	16613122	FD7F02	FD7F02	16613122	90%	159
160	91%	16613378	FD8002	FD8002	16613378	91%	160
161	92%	16613377	FD8001	FD8001	16613377	92%	161
162	92%	16613633	FD8101	FD8101	16613633	92%	162
163	93%	16679425	FE8201	FE8201	16679425	93%	163
164	93%	16679425	FE8201	FE8201	16679425	93%	164
165	94%	16679681	FE8301	FE8301	16679681	94%	165
166	94%	16679937	FE8401	FE8401	16679937	94%	166
167	95%	16679937	FE8401	FE8401	16679937	95%	167
168	96%	16680193	FE8501	FE8501	16680193	96%	168
169	96%	16680448	FE8600	FE8600	16680448	96%	169
170	97%	16680448	FE8600	FE8600	16680448	97%	170
171	97%	16680704	FE8700	FE8700	16680704	97%	171
172	98%	16680960	FE8800	FE8800	16680960	98%	172
173	98%	16680960	FE8800	FE8800	16680960	98%	173
174	99%	16681216	FE8900	FE8900	16681216	99%	174
175	100%	16747008	FF8A00	FF8A00	16747008	100%	175