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JoyShaheb
JoyShaheb

Posted on • Originally published at freecodecamp.org

Every CSS Background Property Illustrated and Explained with Code Examples 🎖️

#codenewbie #tutorial #webdev #fundamentals

Today we're gonna learn all CSS background properties with every possible value along with short-hand. Let's Go !🏅

Table of Contents -->

YouTube :

All Properties

This is a list of All properties we're gonna discuss today. The red colored text at last is the shorthand

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What are background properties?

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CSS Background properties allows us to control the size & properties of images in a way that we can make responsive images for both smaller & larger screens. Thus, we can easily create responsive websites.

For an example,

  • The property background-size allows us to reset width & height of our image according to screen size.
  • background-position allows us to tell the browser, where to put the image on the screen.
  • And many more !

Steps to follow

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Before coding, you need to know little bit of HTML,CSS & how to use VS code.

To do all sorts of test with the properties & its values, follow these steps 👇

  1. Create a new folder named 'BACKGROUND-PROJECT'. Open it on VS code.
  2. Create index.html & style.css files.
  3. install 'live server' on VS code.
  4. start live server.

HTML

create one div with class name 'container' inside the body tag on the HTML file.

   <div class="container"></div>
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CSS

On CSS, you MUST include a height for our container, otherwise we can't see the image. For our case, we will set it to 100vh, like this ->

.container{
  height : 100vh;
}
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download images for the project.

  1. Images are on my GitHub repository
  2. Visit & copy the link ☝️
  3. Go to downgit & paste the link you copied
  4. Follow the steps on the video 👇 ->

Down Git Video

And..... we're all set !

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Let's start coding 😊

background-image

Using this property, we can add images through our stylesheet.

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We can use background-image by 2 ways ->

  • By locating image path on directory
  • By specifying image URL

By Directory Path

The syntax when using the directory path 👇

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We will have 3 cases when specifying an image path on our CSS ->

  1. image & style.css are on same folder
  2. image is on the next folder
  3. image is on the previous folder
  • When image & style.css is on Same Folder, it looks something like this 👇 Notice that kitty.png & style.css are on same parent folder named Background-project

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To locate the file path of the kitty.png, write on style.css ->

 .container{
   background-image : url("kitty.png");

   height: 100vh;
// set size & stop image repetition 
   background-repeat : no-repeat;
   background-size : contain;
 }
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  • When image is on Next Folder, the style.css is on previous folder. Notice on the image 👇 the kitty.png is on Assets folder while style.css is on previous folder

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To Go forward & to locate the file path of the kitty.png, we write one dot & slash (./) after quote on style.css. Then we write name of folder then slash(/) then write name of image, like this 👇 ->

 .container{
   background-image : url("./Assets/kitty.png");

   height: 100vh;
// set size & stop image repetition 
   background-repeat : no-repeat;
   background-size : contain;
 }
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  • If image is on Previous Folder, then we need to go back. Notice on the image 👇 style.css is on src folder & kitty.png is outside src folder.

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To Go back & to locate the file path of the kitty.png, we write two dot & slash (../) after quote on style.css. Then we write name of image, like this 👇

 .container{
   background-image : url("../kitty.png");

   height: 100vh;
// set size & stop image repetition 
   background-repeat : no-repeat;
   background-size : contain;
 }
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By Direct Link

This is pretty easy. Write the property & insert the link inside url(). The syntax 👇

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To work with an image which is a direct link we write ->

//example ->
 .container{
    background-image : url("https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/szxp3jqyjyksrep1ep82.png");

  height: 100vh;
// set size & stop image repetition 
   background-repeat : no-repeat;
   background-size : contain;
 }
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Take a Break

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background-size

We can adjust size of an image using this property.

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You can use background-size by 3 ways ->

  • use Cover / Contain value
  • set image width & height
  • use auto

Let's start discussing the cover & contain values
Bear size : [718px X 614px]

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Cover

For this to work, we must include an image, set height & stop the image repetition. Like this on css 👇

.container{
  background-image : url('cute-bear.png');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-size : cover;

// Must include the height
  height : 100vh;
}
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When we use this property, it will stretch the image to the whole screen even when we resize the window. Watch the video 👇

Cover

Contain

Same steps here, we must include an image, set height & stop the image repetition. Like this on css👇

.container{
  background-image : url('cute-bear.png');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-size : contain;

// Must include the height
  height : 100vh;
}
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This value will preserve the image size [Responsive Image] even when we resize the window. See this video below 👇

Contain

Image width & height

We can set width & height of image using background-size property.

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The syntax 👇

.container{
// here, we see  width👇  &  👇 height
  background-size : 200px   200px;
}
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Also, don't forget to insert the image, set height and stop the image repetition. The code snippet ->

.container{
  background-image : url('cute-bear.png');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;

// here, we see  width👇 &  👇 height
  background-size : 200px  200px;

// Must include the height
  height : 100vh;
}
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Auto

When using this value, the image will stay on it's original size. It won't change when we resize the window. See the video :

background-repeat

This property allows us to repeat the same image multiple times.

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There're 6 values of this property :

  • repeat
  • repeat-x
  • repeat-y
  • no-repeat
  • space
  • round

Result of every 6 value at a glance :
Note: kitty size : [200px X 200px]

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Round

Space

Now, Let's investigate what's happening with each value. BUT, before that note that we need to insert an image using background-image. Like this :

.container{
   background-image : url('kitty.png');
   background-size : 200px 200px;
   background-repeat :  ; //we will play with values here 

   height : 100vh;
}
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repeat

By using this value, we can repeat the same image multiple times along BOTH X & Y Axis as long as the screen space doesn't end. Kitty size : 200px X 200px

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repeat-x

This value allows us to repeat the same image multiple times along the X-Axis as long as the screen space doesn't end. Kitty size : 200px X 200px

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repeat-y

works the same way like "repeat-x", but works along the Y-Axis as long as the screen space doesn't end. Kitty size : 200px X 200px

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no-repeat

We can have our original image without repetition using this value. Kitty size : 200px X 200px

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space

This works both along the X & Y Axis. We can see The main difference between values : space & round when we resize the window. Notice that we have empty spaces when we resize the window

Space

round

This works both along the X & Y Axis. Notice that the image is stretching when we resize the window.

Round

background-position

This property is used to change position of an image on the screen

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The syntax 👇

.container{
// This is       X-Axis👇  &  👇 Y-Axis
background-position : 300px  200px;
}
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Also, don't forget to insert the image, set height, & stop image repetition. We've set the kitty size to 200px X 200px using background-size property

.container{
  background-image: url("kitty-idea.png");
  background-size: 200px 200px;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;

// This is         X-Axis👇  & 👇 Y-Axis
  background-position : 300px 200px;
  height: 100vh;
}
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The Result ->

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You can also use combination of these values ->

  • top
  • left
  • right
  • bottom
  • percentage values

For an example, let's set our kitty at the very bottom right. The code snippet for this ->

.container{
  background-image: url("kitty-idea.png");
  background-size: 200px 200px;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;

// This is         X-Axis👇  & 👇 Y-Axis
  background-position : bottom right;
  height: 100vh;
}
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The Result ->

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Calculating the available space of the screen, the % values determine the position of the image. The code snippet ->

.container{
  background-image: url("kitty-idea.png");
  background-size: 200px 200px;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;

// This is         X-Axis👇  & 👇 Y-Axis
  background-position : 25% 15%;
  height: 100vh;
}
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The Result ->

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background-origin

This property allows us to set the origin of our image across the CSS box model.

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The 4 values are :

  • border-box
  • padding-box
  • content-box
  • inherit

In the standard CSS box model, the outermost part is the border, then comes the padding and finally we have the content itself at the center.

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The result of every property at a glance ->

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To recreate these results,

  • First we need an image, stop image repetition, set height & width of both container & image.
  • Once done, we will insert 40px padding, otherwise we can't see the difference between padding-box & content box.
  • Then, insert 25px red colored border. set, border-style to dashed to see dashed border on screen.
  • set background-size to 400px & 400px;

The code snippet ->

.container{
  background-image: url('cute-girl.png');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-size: 400px 400px;

// Change  values here  👇  to see difference 
  background-origin: border-box;
  padding: 40px;
  border: 25px solid red;
  border-style: dashed;

// Width & height for container 👇
  width : 400px;
  height : 400px;
}
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Take A Break

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background-clip

This is the same as background-origin property. The main difference is, background-clip CUTS the image to fit inside the Box & background-origin PUSHES the content inside the box to fit.

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The 4 values are :

  • border-box
  • padding-box
  • content-box
  • inherit

The result of every property at a glance ->

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To recreate these results,

  • First we need an image, stop image repetition, set height & width of both container & image.
  • Once done, we will insert 40px padding, otherwise we can't see the difference between padding-box & content box.
  • Then, insert 25px red colored border. set, border-style to dashed to see dashed border on screen.
  • set background-size to 400px & 400px;

The code snippet ->

.container{
  background-image: url('cute-girl.png');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-size: 400px 400px;

// Change  values here  👇  to see difference 
  background-clip: border-box;
  padding: 40px;
  border: 25px solid red;
  border-style: dashed;

// Width & height for container 👇
  width : 400px;
  height : 400px;
}
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background-attachment

This property allows us to control the behavior of our content & image when we scroll.

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The 3 values are :

  • scroll
  • fixed
  • local

when we use scroll, image is fixed, we can freely scroll our content. fixed value gives us a parallax effect on mouse scroll & local produces multiple images as long as our content doesn't end.

See the results live here 👇

I got this pen from

background-color

This is used to fill your background with colors

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Out of many options, popular ones are ->

  • solid color by name or hex value
  • using RGB() color function
  • using linear-gradient() function

solid color by name or hex value

You can use color names to set background color, like this ->

.container{
   background-color : red;

   height : 100vh;
}
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or, you can use hex color code like this ->

.container{
   background-color : #ff0000; //red color

   height : 100vh;
}
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Visit these resources for more colors ->

coolors.co
flatuicolors.com

RBG() color function

you can use RGB() color function to set background color ->

.container{
// color name is "American River"
   background-color : rgb(99, 110, 114);

   height : 100vh;
}
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or, you can use RGBA() to set both color & opacity->

.container{
// The 0.5 at last represents        50% 👇 opacity 
   background-color :  rgba(99, 110, 114, 0.5);

   height : 100vh;
}
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This is an experiment with the color named 'Eton blue' with various opacity levels 👇

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linear-gradient() function

this is used to create a gradient color of more than 1 color. Example of gradient colors ->

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You can visit this website for more color resources with css code snippets ->

uigradients.com

To recreate this background color ->

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'#22c1c3' represents the color on left, '#fdbb2d' represents color on right. '90deg' is telling how the 2 colors will be angled to create a gradient.
The code snippet ->

.container{

   background: linear-gradient(90deg, #22c1c3, #fdbb2d);  

   height : 100vh;
}
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Short-Hand

This is the order of the shorthand named background

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For this experiment, let's put the kitty.png on our browser with a blue background at 200px on X-Axis & 200px on Y-axis. The code snippet ->

.container{

   background-color : skyblue;
   background-image : url('kitty.png);
   background-repeat: no-repeat;
   background-attachment: fixed;
   background-position: 200px 200px;

   height : 100vh;
}
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The code snippet using the shorthand ->

.container{

   background: skyblue url('kitty.png) no-repeat fixed 200px 200px;

   height : 100vh;
}
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If you want to skip one value, you can do it as long as maintain the order of these properties.

Credits

Cute Girl I have a crush on 🥰

kitty Avatar

Cute panda

cute cat with duck

cute girl illustration

Rabbit with duck

CSS-Tricks

Conclusion

Here's Your Medal For reading till the end ❤️

Suggestions & Criticisms Are Highly Appreciated ❤️

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