Slow colour fade on hover - Requires modernizr and jquery.color https://github.com/jquery/jquery-color

fadeLink.js

jQuery.fn.fadeLink = function(options) {

  var config = $.extend({
    color: '#ff8c28',
    duration: 500
  }, options);

  return $(this).each(function() {
    var
      originalColour = $(this).css('color'),
      $el = $(this);

    function onMouseOver() {
      $el.stop().animate({color: config.color}, config.duration)
    }

    function onMouseOut() {
      $el.stop().animate({color: originalColour}, config.duration)
    }

    if(!Modernizr.touch) {
      $el
        .on('mouseover', onMouseOver)
        .on('mouseout', onMouseOut);
    }

  });
};