Flashes the selected element a certain color or style for a configurable number of seconds (without needing jQuery UI).

JQuery flash.js

jQuery.fn.extend({
    /** $().flash(options)
     * 
     * Author: Cullen Johnson
     * URL: https://gist.github.com/cullenjohnson/3d529bbfc7a555d1e640
     * 
     * Description:
     *  Flashes an element's background-color, then fades back to the element's original background-color
     *
     * REQUIRES jQuery 1.4+ (jQuery UI is NOT needed)
     *
     * options (Object)
     *      - duration (Number): the total amount of time in milliseconds for the animation. Default: 2000, minimum 400
     *      - css (Object): CSS rules to apply to the element momentarily. OVERRIDES color. Default: undefined
     *      - color (String): the CSS color to flash the background to momentarily. Default: 'yellow'
     *      - complete (Function): the function to be called when the whole animation is complete.
     */
    flash: function(options) {
        options = options || {};
        options.duration = options.duration || 2000;
        options.color = options.color || 'yellow';
        options.css = options.css || {'background-color': options.color};

        return this.each(function() {
            var fadeInDuration = Math.max(options.duration / 8, 50),
                delayDuration = Math.max(options.duration / 10, 40),
                fadeOutDuration = Math.max(options.duration - (fadeInDuration + delayDuration), 310),
                originalCSS = {},
                computedStyle = window.getComputedStyle(this, null),
                cssKey;

            // finish all running animations; this return the original CSS immediately in case the element is currently in a "flashing" state.
            $(this).finish();

            for (cssKey in options.css) {
                originalCSS[cssKey] = computedStyle.getPropertyValue(cssKey) || $(this).css(cssKey) ||  null;
            }

            $(this).animate(
                options.css,
                fadeInDuration,
                'swing'
            ).queue(function() {
                $(this).delay(delayDuration);
                $(this).animate(
                    originalCSS,
                    fadeOutDuration,
                    'swing',
                    options.complete || null
                );
                $(this).dequeue();
            });
        });
    }
});