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

Download Demo ZIP

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

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There are 357 comments (+Add)

  • 357 hamid http://www.prizebondlucky.com

    http://www.prizebondlucky.com see my site nd enjoy

  • 356 Dorian Muthig http://www.dorianmuthig.com

    That sure looks nice, but the text will no longer be selectable, because a floating object is covering it. Also, the behavior for the already closed tag is wrong, as it should not extend accross the parent object. As such, it is a bad idea to do that. Using the proprietary filters filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient (IE) or attributes -moz-linear-gradient and -webkit-gradient (Gecko/WebKit) is a far better solution as it may also save on HTTP requests.

  • 355 Rusdimori http://rusdimori.webs.com

    Woow.. You are cool…
    ..
    Beautiful text.!
    Thx for posting..
    ..

  • 354 Mo7mD.ZaYOnA http://www.tiraq.com/vb

    not work with me :(

  • 353 imran http://fdfdfdf

    This is very beautiful idea!!!!

  • 352 aiva http://melyanao06.student.ipb.ac.id

    thanks for posting such an interesting study..

  • 351 TV apps http://www.yamgo.com/

    Thanks for a very useful tips!!

  • 350 Progs4u http://www.progs4u.net

    Thank you so much ..
    You are very cool

  • 349 حسافه http://www.hsafh.net/

    Nice ..!!

    thanks Man ..

    ^^

  • 348 Phil Doughty

    Nice effect -
    If the screen was stretched/enlarged
    and the text stretched also with it would the
    image do the same?
    or would there be BIG TEXT with a small image?

Pages: 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 261 » Show All

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