Jan 17

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CSS Gradient Text Effect

Do you want to create fancy headings without rendering each heading with Photoshop? Here is a simple CSS trick to show you how to create gradient text effect with a PNG image (pure CSS, no Javascript or Flash). All you need is an empty <span> tag in the heading and apply the background image overlay using the CSS position:absolute property. This trick has been tested on most browsers: Firefox, Safari, Opera, and even Internet Explorer 6. Continue to read this article to find out how.

View Demos

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Benefits

  • This is pure CSS trick, no Javascript or Flash. It works on most browsers including IE6 (PNG hack required).
  • It is perfect for designing headings. You don’t have to render each heading with Photoshop. This will save you time and bandwidth.
  • You can use on any web fonts and the font size remains scalable.

How does this work?

The trick is very simple. Basically we are just adding a 1px gradient PNG (with alpha transparency) over the text.

screenshot

The HTML markups

<h1><span></span>CSS Gradient Text</h1>

The CSS

The key point here is: h1 { position: relative } and h1 span { position: absolute }

h1 {
  font: bold 330%/100% "Lucida Grande";
  position: relative;
  color: #464646;
}
h1 span {
  background: url(gradient.png) repeat-x;
  position: absolute;
  display: block;
  width: 100%;
  height: 31px;
}

That’s it! You are done. Click here to view my demo page.

Make it work on IE6

Since IE6 doesn’t render PNG-24 properly, the following hack is required in order to display the transparent PNG (add anywhere in between the <head> tag):

<!--[if lt IE 7]>

<style>
h1 span {
  background: none;
  filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='gradient.png', sizingMethod='scale');
}
</style>

<![endif]-->

This is why we hate IE 6!

jQuery prepend version (for semantic lovers)

If you don’t want to have the empty <span> tag in the heading, you can use Javascript to prepend the <span> tag. Here is a sample using jQuery prepend method:

<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){

  //prepend span tag to H1
  $("h1").prepend("<span></span>");

});
</script>

More samples

Want to make Web 2.0 glossy text?

screenshot

Literally, you can apply this trick on any solid background color (as long your gradient color is the same as your background color).

screenshot

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Pattern / Texture

You can also apply this trick with a tile background image. Look, here is an example of zebra pattern. So, be creative!

screenshot

Limitations and more…

  • This trick is only suitable for solid background color elements. Your gradient color (PNG image) must be the same color as your background color.
  • IE PNG hack is required if you want it to work on IE 6.
  • If your gradient image is taller than the heading, the text will not be selectable.

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Comments

Pages: 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 231 » Show All

There are 327 comments (+Add)

  • 327 psd xhtml http://psdxhtmlycss.com

    it is funny work for ie6, ie5 and ie5.5

  • 326 crowdsourcing website http://www.shopfordesigns.com

    interesting headings yet very simple codes… will be using them for sure.

  • 325 aljuk http://www.webpixelmedia.com

    Stunningly simple. Thanks, I’ll be using this with the jQ prepend.

  • 324 vincentdresses http://www.hibridal.com

    The designs showed here show what simple and tasteful design is all about. Another one to consider

  • 323 lilsizzo

    xdas as
    a
    sdas
    dsa
    sa
    dsa
    d
    sadas
    dsa
    asd

    asda

  • 322 sara http://freetutorialstore.com

    Very Nice article Keep going on

  • 321 zoeldt http://gulalisweet.co.cc

    sweet sweet ;-) thanks for sharing

  • 320 patik modelleri http://www.patikmodelleri.com

    buraya birseyler karalamak gerekiyor ama tam olarak ne yazacagimi bilmiyorum.

  • 319 Basic Websites http://www.basic-websites.co.uk

    Excellent stuff, I’ve previously accomplished this using graphics programs, this is a much more elegant way of doing things. Shame about the IE hack…but hey it wouldn’t be IE without hacks would it?

  • 318 Debora

    Create fancy headings in really very interesting work. I found your post useful and now I m using it in my 83-640 website.

Pages: 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 231 » Show All

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