How to Use the CSS Background Shorthand Property

See CSS: Tips and Tricks for similar articles.

The background property is used to set the individual properties for background-color, background-image, background-repeat, background-attachment, and background-position. Note that order matters (although some browsers may show some leniency). Learn how to use the CSS background shorthand property in the following steps.

  1. The syntax for the background property is as follows:
    selector {
    background: background-color background-image background-repeat
    background-attachment background-position;
    }
    The CSS initial values for the background property are as follows:
    PropertyInitial Value
    background-colortransparent
    background-imagenone
    background-repeatrepeat
    background-attachmentscroll
    background-position0% 0%
  2. When using shorthand for the background property, there are some things you need to be aware of:
    • The background color renders first then the background image is placed over the color. This can be exploited.
    • You can use background in place of background-color to set the background color (e.g., background: red;).
    • You can use background in place of background-image to set the background image (e.g., background: url(bg.gif);).
  3. The following example demonstrates the background shorthand property:
    <!DOCTYPE HTML>
    <html>
    <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>CSS Background shorthand</title>
    <style type="text/css" media="screen">
    div {
    	margin: .75em;
    	padding: .5em;
    	height: 50px;
    	border: 1px solid lightgrey;
    }
    div.one {
    	background: #ccc; /* shorthand for background-color */
    }
    
    div.two {
    	background: url('Images/block.gif'); /* shorthand for background-image */
    	color: white;
    }
    
    div.three {
    	background: #ccc url('Images/block.gif') repeat-x scroll 0% 0%; /* uses all available values */
    	color: white;
    }
    
    div.four {
    	background: #ccc url('Images/block.gif') no-repeat scroll 20% 75%; /* different background position values */
    }
    
    div.five {
    	background: #ccc url('Images/block.gif') no-repeat scroll bottom center; /* and still different background position values */
    }
    </style>
    </head>
    
    <body>
    	<div class="one">This background sets only the color.</div>
    	
    	<div class="two">This background sets only the image.</div>
    	
    	<div class="three">This background sets all available values.</div>
    	
    	<div class="four">This background modifies the background-repeat and the background-position values.</div>
    	
    	<div class="five">This background modifies the background-position values.</div>
    </body>
    </html>
    This code renders the following: Background Shorthand

Related Articles

  1. Learn the Very Basics of CSS in One Minute
  2. How to Create a CSS External Style Sheet
  3. How to Align Text with CSS
  4. How to Create a Horizontal Navigation Menu with CSS
  5. How to Create a Fixed-Width Layout with CSS
  6. How to Remove Spacing Between Table Borders with CSS
  7. How to Set a Background Image with CSS
  8. How to Set Text Spacing and Placement in CSS
  9. How to Style a Table with CSS
  10. How to Create Boxes with Rounded Corners in CSS
  11. How to Create a Vertical Navigation Menu with CSS
  12. How to Use the CSS Opacity Property
  13. How to Use Multiple Background Images with CSS
  14. Absolute Positioning with CSS
  15. How to Use the CSS Border Shorthand Property
  16. How to Create CSS Button Links
  17. How to Create a Fluid-Width Layout with CSS
  18. How to Set Text and Background Color with CSS
  19. How to Create a CSS Embedded Style Sheet
  20. How to Add Inline Styles to CSS
  21. How to Create a Border with CSS
  22. How to Use the CSS Padding Shorthand Property
  23. How to Create a Fly-Out Menu with CSS
  24. How to Use CSS Media Queries in Responsive Design
  25. How to Adjust Margins with CSS
  26. How to Use the CSS Background Shorthand Property (this article)
  27. How to Create a Form without Tables Using CSS
  28. How to Modify Fonts in CSS
  29. How to Create a Drop-Down Menu with CSS
  30. How to Apply Padding with CSS
  31. Fixed Positioning with CSS
  32. How to Use CSS Transitions
  33. How to Use the CSS list-style Shorthand Property
  34. How to Change Text Style in CSS
  35. How to Create CSS Sprites
  36. How to Use CSS with Different Media Types
  37. How to Import Style Sheets with @import in CSS
  38. How to Use the CSS White-Space Property
  39. How to Use the CSS Z-index Property
  40. How to Create Drop Shadows with the box-shadow Property in CSS3