CSS Background
CSS background properties are used to define the background effects of an element.
CSS properties used for background effects:
- 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 defined in the body selector:
Example
| body {background-color:#b0c4de;} |
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The background color can be specified by:
- name - a color name, like "red"
- RGB - an RGB value, like "rgb(255,0,0)"
- Hex - a hex value, like "#ff0000"
In the example below, the h1, p, and div elements have different background colors:
Example
h1 {background-color:#6495ed;}
p {background-color:#e0ffff;}
div {background-color:#b0c4de;} |
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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');} |
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Below is an example of a bad combination of text and background image. The
text is almost not readable:
Example
| body {background-image:url('bgdesert.jpg');} |
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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('gradient2.png');
} |
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If the image is repeated only horizontally (repeat-x), the background will look
better:
Example
body
{
background-image:url('gradient2.png');
background-repeat:repeat-x;
} |
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Background Image - Set position and no-repeat
 When using a background image, use an image that does not disturb the
text.
Showing the image only once is specified by the background-repeat property:
Example
body
{
background-image:url('img_tree.png');
background-repeat:no-repeat;
} |
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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;
} |
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Background - Shorthand property
As you can see from the examples above, there are many properties to consider
when dealing with backgrounds.
To shorten the code, it is also possible to specify all the properties in one
single property. This is called a shorthand property.
The shorthand property for background is simply "background":
Example
| 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 are:
- background-color
- background-image
- background-repeat
- background-attachment
- background-position
It does not matter if one of the property values are missing, as long as the
ones that are present are in this order.
This example uses more advanced CSS. Take a look: Advanced example
 |
More Examples |
How to set a fixed background image
This example demonstrates how to set a fixed background image. The image will not scroll with the rest of the page.
All CSS Background Properties
The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).
| Property |
Description |
Values |
CSS |
| background |
Sets all the background
properties in one declaration |
background-color
background-image
background-repeat background-attachment background-position
inherit |
1 |
| background-attachment |
Sets whether a background image is fixed or scrolls with the rest of the page |
scroll
fixed
inherit |
1 |
| background-color |
Sets the background color of an element |
color-rgb
color-hex
color-name
transparent
inherit |
1 |
| background-image |
Sets the background image for an element |
url(URL)
none
inherit |
1 |
| background-position |
Sets the starting position of a background image |
left top
left center
left bottom
right top
right center
right bottom
center top
center center
center bottom
x% y%
xpos ypos
inherit |
1 |
| background-repeat |
Sets if/how a background image will be repeated |
repeat
repeat-x
repeat-y
no-repeat
inherit |
1 |
| 
