Create a hexadecimal colour based on a string with JavaScript

Question

I want to create a function that will accept any old string (will usually be a single word) and from that somehow generate a hexadecimal value between #000000 and #FFFFFF, so I can use it as a colour for a HTML element.

Maybe even a shorthand hex value (e.g: #FFF) if that's less complicated. In fact, a colour from a 'web-safe' palette would be ideal.

Answer 1

Here's an adaptation of CD Sanchez' answer that consistently returns a 6-digit colour code:

var stringToColour = function(str) {
  var hash = 0;
  for (var i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {
    hash = str.charCodeAt(i) + ((hash << 5) - hash);
  }
  var colour = '#';
  for (var i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    var value = (hash >> (i * 8)) & 0xFF;
    colour += ('00' + value.toString(16)).substr(-2);
  }
  return colour;
}

Usage:

stringToColour("greenish");
// -> #9bc63b

Example:

http://jsfiddle.net/sUK45/

(An alternative/simpler solution might involve returning an 'rgb(...)'-style colour code.)