Tutorials References Menu

CSS Tutorial

CSS HOME CSS Introduction CSS Syntax CSS Selectors CSS How To CSS Comments CSS Colors CSS Backgrounds CSS Borders CSS Margins CSS Padding CSS Height/Width CSS Box Model CSS Outline CSS Text CSS Fonts CSS Icons CSS Links CSS Lists CSS Tables CSS Display CSS Max-width CSS Position CSS Overflow CSS Float CSS Inline-block CSS Align CSS Combinators CSS Pseudo-class CSS Pseudo-element CSS Opacity CSS Navigation Bar CSS Dropdowns CSS Image Gallery CSS Image Sprites CSS Attr Selectors CSS Forms CSS Counters CSS Website Layout CSS Units CSS Specificity CSS !important

CSS Advanced

CSS Rounded Corners CSS Border Images CSS Backgrounds CSS Colors CSS Color Keywords CSS Gradients CSS Shadows CSS Text Effects CSS Web Fonts CSS 2D Transforms CSS 3D Transforms CSS Transitions CSS Animations CSS Tooltips CSS Style Images CSS Image Reflection CSS object-fit CSS object-position CSS Buttons CSS Pagination CSS Multiple Columns CSS User Interface CSS Variables CSS Box Sizing CSS Media Queries CSS MQ Examples CSS Flexbox

CSS Responsive

RWD Intro RWD Viewport RWD Grid View RWD Media Queries RWD Images RWD Videos RWD Frameworks RWD Templates

CSS Grid

Grid Intro Grid Container Grid Item

CSS SASS

SASS Tutorial

CSS Examples

CSS Templates CSS Examples

CSS References

CSS Reference CSS Selectors CSS Functions CSS Reference Aural CSS Web Safe Fonts CSS Animatable CSS Units CSS PX-EM Converter CSS Colors CSS Color Values CSS Default Values CSS Browser Support

CSS Backgrounds


The CSS background properties are used to add background effects for elements.


In these chapters, you will learn about the following CSS background properties:

  • background-color
  • background-image
  • background-repeat
  • background-attachment
  • background-position
  • background (shorthand property)

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;
}
Try it Yourself »

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.


Other Elements

You can set the background color for any HTML elements:

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;
}
Try it Yourself »

Opacity / Transparency

The opacity property specifies the opacity/transparency of an element. It can take a value from 0.0 - 1.0. The lower value, the more transparent:

opacity 1

opacity 0.6

opacity 0.3

opacity 0.1

Example

div {
  background-color: green;
  opacity: 0.3;
}
Try it Yourself »

Note: When using the opacity property to add transparency to the background of an element, all of its child elements inherit the same transparency. This can make the text inside a fully transparent element hard to read.


Transparency using RGBA

If you do not want to apply opacity to child elements, like in our example above, use RGBA color values. The following example sets the opacity for the background color and not the text:

100% opacity

60% opacity

30% opacity

10% opacity

You learned from our CSS Colors Chapter, that you can use RGB as a color value. In addition to RGB, you can use an RGB color value with an alpha channel (RGBA) - which specifies the opacity for a color.

An RGBA color value is specified with: rgba(red, green, blue, alpha). The alpha parameter is a number between 0.0 (fully transparent) and 1.0 (fully opaque).

Tip: You will learn more about RGBA Colors in our CSS Colors Chapter.

Example

div {
  background: rgba(0, 128, 0, 0.3) /* Green background with 30% opacity */
}
Try it Yourself »