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
CSS background-color
The background-color property specifies the background color of an element.
Example
The background color of a page is set like this:
body {
background-color: lightblue;
}
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With CSS, a color is most often specified by:
- a valid color name - like "red"
- a HEX value - like "#ff0000"
- an RGB value - like "rgb(255,0,0)"
Look at CSS Color Values for a complete list of possible color values.
Example
Here, the <h1>, <p>, and <div> elements will have different background colors:
h1 {
background-color: green;
}
div {
background-color: lightblue;
}
p {
background-color:
yellow;
}
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CSS 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.
Example
The background image for a page can be set like this:
body {
background-image: url("paper.gif");
}
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Example
This example shows a bad combination of text and background image. The text is hardly readable:
body {
background-image: url("bgdesert.jpg");
}
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Note: When using a background image, use an image that does not disturb the text.
CSS background-repeat
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:
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;
}
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Tip: To repeat an image vertically, set background-repeat: repeat-y;
CSS background-repeat: no-repeat
Showing the background image only once is also specified by the background-repeat property:
Example
Show the background image only once:
body
{
background-image: url("img_tree.png");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
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In the example above, the background image is placed 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.
CSS background-position
The background-position property is used to
specify the position of the background image.
Example
Position the background image in the top-right corner:
body
{
background-image: url("img_tree.png");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right top;
}
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CSS background-attachment
The background-attachment property specifies
whether the background image should scroll or be fixed (will not scroll with the
rest of the page):
Example
Specify that the background image should be fixed:
body
{
background-image: url("img_tree.png");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right top;
background-attachment: fixed;
}
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Example
Specify that the background image should scroll with the rest of the page:
body
{
background-image: url("img_tree.png");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right top;
background-attachment: scroll;
}
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CSS 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
Use the shorthand property to set all the background properties in one declaration:
body {
background: #ffffff url("img_tree.png") no-repeat right top;
}
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When using the shorthand property the order of the property values is:
background-colorbackground-imagebackground-repeatbackground-attachmentbackground-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!
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-clip | Specifies the painting area of the background |
| background-color | Sets the background color of an element |
| background-image | Sets the background image for an element |
| background-origin | Specifies where the background image(s) is/are positioned |
| background-position | Sets the starting position of a background image |
| background-repeat | Sets how a background image will be repeated |
| background-size | Specifies the size of the background image(s) |
