Dynamically change color to lighter or darker by percentage CSS

All modern browsers have had 100% filter support since January 2020. Even UC Browser for Android (instead of Chrome, on the $80 phones) supports it.

a {
    /* a nice, modern blue for links */
    color: #118bee;
}
a:active {
    /* Darken on click by 15% (down to 85%) */
    filter: brightness(0.85);
}

Additionally, you can control this dynamically with CSS variables, which have been supported by most browsers since October 2017 (excluding QQ):

:root {
    --color: #118bee;
    --hover-brightness: 1.2;
}
a {
    color: var(--color);
}
a:active {
    /* Darken on click */
    filter: brightness(var(--hover-brightness));
}

Not my project, but one that’s great to look at for a real-world example of how great modern CSS can be, check out: MVP.css

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Original Answer

If you’re using a stack which lets you use Sass or Less, you can use the lighten function:

$linkcolour: #0000FF;

a {
  color: $linkcolour;
}

a.lighter {
  color: lighten($linkcolour, 50%);
}

There’s also darken which does the same, but in the opposite direction.