CSS Backgrounds

The CSS background properties are used to define the background

effects for elements.

CSS background properties:

background-color
background-image
background-repeat
background-attachment
background-position

Background Color
The background-color property specifies the background color of an element.

The background color of a page is set like this:

Example
body {
background-color: lightblue;
}

Try it yourself

With CSS, a color is most often specified by:

a HEX value - like "#ff0000"

an RGB value - like "rgb(255,0,0)"
a valid color name - like "red"

Look at CSS Color Values for a complete list of possible color values.

In the example below, the <h1>, <p>, and <div> elements have different background
colors:

Example
h1 {
background-color: green;
}

div {
background-color: lightblue;
}

p {
background-color: yellow;
}

Try it yourself

Background Image
The background-image property specifies an image to use as the background of an
element.

By default, the image is repeated so it covers the entire element.

The background image for a page can be set like this:

Example
body {
background-image: url("paper.gif");
}

Try it yourself

Below is an example of a bad combination of text and background image. The text is hardly
readable:

Example
body {
background-image: url("bgdesert.jpg");
}

Try it yourself

Note: When using a background image, use an image that does not disturb the text.
Background Image - Repeat Horizontally or Vertically
By default, the background-image property repeats an image both horizontally and
vertically.

Some images should be repeated only horizontally or vertically, or they will look strange,
like this:

Example
body {
background-image: url("gradient_bg.png");
}

Try it yourself

If the image above is repeated only horizontally (background-repeat: repeat-x;), the

background will look better:

Example
body {
background-image: url("gradient_bg.png");
background-repeat: repeat-x;
}

Try it yourself

Note: To repeat an image vertically set background-repeat: repeat-y;

Background Image - Set position and no-repeat

Showing the backgound image only once is also specified by the background-
repeatproperty:

Example
body {
background-image: url("img_tree.png");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
Try it yourself

In the example above, the background image is shown in the same place as the text. We
want to change the position of the image, so that it does not disturb the text too much.

The position of the image is specified by the background-position property:

Example
body {
background-image: url("img_tree.png");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right top;
}

Try it yourself

Background Image - Fixed position

To specify that the background image should be fixed (will not scroll with the rest of the
page), use the background-attachment property:

Example
body {
background-image: url("img_tree.png");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right top;
background-attachment: fixed;
}

Try it yourself

Background - Shorthand property

To shorten the code, it is also possible to specify all the background properties in one single
property. This is called a shorthand property.

The shorthand property for background is background:

Example
body {
background: #ffffff url("img_tree.png") no-repeat right top;
}

Try it yourself

When using the shorthand property the order of the property values is:

background-color
background-image
background-repeat
background-attachment
background-position

It does not matter if one of the property values is missing, as long as the other ones are in
this order.

Test Yourself with Exercises!

Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5

All CSS Background Properties

Property Description

background Sets all the background properties in one declaration

background-attachment Sets whether a background image is fixed or scrolls with the rest of the
page

background-color Sets the background color of an element

background-image Sets the background image for an element

background-position Sets the starting position of a background image

background-repeat Sets how a background image will be repeated

CSS3 Backgrounds
CSS3 contains a few new background properties, which allow greater control of the
background element.

In this chapter you will learn how to add multiple background images to one element.

You will also learn about the following new CSS3 properties:

background-size
background-origin
background-clip

Browser Support
The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Numbers followed by -webkit-, -moz-, or -o- specify the first version that worked with a
prefix.

Property chrome edge ie firefox safari opera

background-image 4.0 12.0 9.0 3.6 3.1 11.5

(with multiple
backgrounds)

background-size 4.0 12.0 9.0 4.0 4.1 10.5

1.0 - 3.6 -moz- 3.0 - 10.0 -o-
webkit- webkit-

background-origin 1.0 12.0 9.0 4.0 3.0 10.5

background-clip 4.0 12.0 9.0 4.0 3.0 10.5

CSS3 Multiple Backgrounds

CSS3 allows you to add multiple background images for an element, through
thebackground-image property.
The different background images are separated by commas, and the images are stacked on
top of each other, where the first image is closest to the viewer.

The following example has two background images, the first image is a flower (aligned to
the bottom and right) and the second image is a paper background (aligned to the top-left
corner):

Example
#example1 {
background-image: url(img_flwr.gif), url(paper.gif);
background-position: right bottom, left top;
background-repeat: no-repeat, repeat;
}

Try it yourself

Multiple background images can be specified using either the individual background
properties (as above) or the background shorthand property.

The following example uses the background shorthand property (same result as example
above):

Example
#example1 {
background: url(img_flwr.gif) right bottom no-repeat, url(paper.gif) left top
repeat;
}

Try it yourself

CSS3 Background Size

The CSS3 background-size property allows you to specify the size of background images.

Before CSS3, the size of a background image was the actual size of the image. CSS3 allows
us to re-use background images in different contexts.

The size can be specified in lengths, percentages, or by using one of the two keywords:
contain or cover.

The following example resizes a background image to much smaller than the original image
(using pixels):
Original background image:

Lorem Ipsum Dolor

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod
tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut
aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Resized background image:

Lorem Ipsum Dolor

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod
tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut
aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Here is the code:

Example
#div1 {
background: url(img_flower.jpg);
background-size: 100px 80px;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

Try it yourself

The two other possible values for background-size are contain and cover.

The contain keyword scales the background image to be as large as possible (but both its
width and its height must fit inside the content area). As such, depending on the proportions
of the background image and the background positioning area, there may be some areas of
the background which are not covered by the background image.

The cover keyword scales the background image so that the content area is completely
covered by the background image (both its width and height are equal to or exceed the
content area). As such, some parts of the background image may not be visible in the
background positioning area.
The following example illustrates the use of contain and cover:

Example
#div1 {
background: url(img_flower.jpg);
background-size: contain;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
#div2 {
background: url(img_flower.jpg);
background-size: cover;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

Try it yourself

Define Sizes of Multiple Background Images

The background-size property also accepts multiple values for background size (using a
comma-separated list), when working with multiple backgrounds.

The following example has three background images specified, with different background-
size value for each image:

Example
#example1 {
background: url(img_flwr.gif) left top no-repeat, url(img_flwr.gif) right
bottom no-repeat, url(paper.gif) left top repeat;
background-size: 50px, 130px, auto;
}

Try it yourself

Full Size Background Image

Now we want to have a background image on a website that covers the entire browser
window at all times.

The requirements are as follows:

 Fill the entire page with the image (no white space)
Scale image as needed
Center image on page
Do not cause scrollbars

The following example shows how to do it; Use the html element (the html element is
always at least the height of the browser window). Then set a fixed and centered
background on it. Then adjust its size with the background-size property:

Example
html {
background: url(img_flower.jpg) no-repeat center center fixed;
background-size: cover;
}

Try it yourself

CSS3 background-origin Property

The CSS3 background-origin property specifies where the background image is
positioned.

The property takes three different values:

border-box - the background image starts from the upper left corner of the border
padding-box - (default) the background image starts from the upper left corner of the
padding edge
content-box - the background image starts from the upper left corner of the content

The following example illustrates the background-origin property:

Example
#example1 {
border: 10px solid black;
padding:35px;
background:url(img_flwr.gif);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-origin: content-box;
}

Try it yourself
CSS3 background-clip Property
The CSS3 background-clip property specifies the painting area of the background.

The property takes three different values:

border-box - (default) the background is painted to the outside edge of the border
padding-box - the background is painted to the outside edge of the padding
content-box - the background is painted within the content box

The following example illustrates the background-clip property:

Example
#example1 {
border: 10px dotted black;
padding:35px;
background: yellow;
background-clip: content-box;
}

Try it yourself

Test Yourself with Exercises!

Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5

CSS3 Background Properties

Property Description

background A shorthand property for setting all the background properties in one
declaration
background-clip Specifies the painting area of the background

background-image Specifies one or more background images for an element

background-origin Specifies where the background image(s) is/are positioned

background-size Specifies the size of the background image(s)