With CSS3 you can add shadow to text and to elements.
In this chapter you will learn about the following properties:
- text-shadow
- box-shadow
Browser Support
The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.
Numbers followed by -webkit- or -moz- specifies the first version that worked with a prefix.
CSS3 Text Shadow
The CSS3 text-shadow property applies shadow to text.
In its simplest use, you only specify the horizontal shadow (2px) and the vertical shadow (2px):
Example
h1 {
text-shadow: 2px 2px;
}
Try it Yourself »
Next, add a color to the shadow:
Example
h1 {
text-shadow: 2px 2px red;
}
Try it Yourself »
Then, add a blur effect to the shadow:
Example
h1 {
text-shadow: 2px 2px 5px red;
}
Try it Yourself »
The following example shows a white text with black shadow:
Example
h1 {
color: white;
text-shadow: 2px 2px 4px #000000;
}
Try it Yourself »
The following example shows a red neon glow shadow:
Example
h1 {
text-shadow: 0 0 3px #FF0000;
}
Try it Yourself »
Multiple Shadows
To add more than one shadow to the text, you can add a comma-separated list of shadows.
The following example shows a red and blue neon glow shadow:
Example
h1 {
text-shadow: 0 0 3px #FF0000, 0 0 5px #0000FF;
}
Try it Yourself »The following example shows a white text with black, blue, and darkblue shadow:
Example
h1 {
color: white;
text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px black, 0 0 25px blue, 0 0 5px darkblue;
}
Try it Yourself »You can also use the text-shadow property to create a plain border around some text (without shadows):
Example
h1 {
color: yellow;
text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 1px black, 1px 0 black, 0 -1px black;
}
Try it Yourself »CSS3 box-shadow Property
The CSS3 box-shadow property applies shadow to elements.
In its simplest use, you only specify the horizontal shadow and the vertical shadow:
Example
div {
box-shadow: 10px 10px;
}
Try it Yourself »
Next, add a color to the shadow:
Example
div {
box-shadow: 10px 10px grey;
}
Try it Yourself »Next, add a blur effect to the shadow:
Example
div {
box-shadow: 10px 10px 5px grey;
}
Try it Yourself »You can also add shadows to the ::before and ::after pseudo-elements, to create an interesting effect:
Example
#boxshadow {
position: relative;
box-shadow: 1px 2px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, .5);
padding: 10px;
background: white;
}
#boxshadow img {
width: 100%;
border: 1px solid #8a4419;
border-style: inset;
}
#boxshadow::after {
content: '';
position: absolute;
z-index: -1; /* hide shadow behind image */
box-shadow: 0 15px 20px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
width: 70%;
left: 15%; /* one half of the remaining 30% */
height: 100px;
bottom: 0;
}
Try it Yourself »Cards
An example of using the box-shadow property to create paper-like cards:
Example
div.card {
width: 250px;
box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 6px 20px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19);
text-align: center;
}
Try it (Text Card) »
Try it (Image Card) »
CSS3 Shadow Properties
Property
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| box-shadow | Adds one or more shadows to an element |
| text-shadow | Adds one or more shadows to a text |