- CSS Backgrounds
- CSS background-color
- Example
- Other Elements
- Example
- Opacity / Transparency
- Example
- Transparency using RGBA
- Example
- The CSS Background Color Property
- background-color
- Try it
- Syntax
- Values
- Accessibility concerns
- Formal definition
- Formal syntax
- Examples
- HTML
- CSS
- Result
- Specifications
- Browser compatibility
- See also
- Found a content problem with this page?
- MDN
- Support
- Our communities
- Developers
- 3 Methods to Set a Background Color with HTML & CSS
- Setting a Solid Background Color
- Creating a Gradient Background
- Creating a Changing Background
- Community Q&A
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:
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 ,
, and elements will have different background colors:
div background-color: lightblue;
>
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:
Example
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:
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
The CSS Background Color Property
background-color
The background-color CSS property sets the background color of an element.
Try it
Syntax
/* Keyword values */ background-color: red; background-color: indigo; /* Hexadecimal value */ background-color: #bbff00; /* Fully opaque */ background-color: #bf0; /* Fully opaque shorthand */ background-color: #11ffee00; /* Fully transparent */ background-color: #1fe0; /* Fully transparent shorthand */ background-color: #11ffeeff; /* Fully opaque */ background-color: #1fef; /* Fully opaque shorthand */ /* RGB value */ background-color: rgb(255 255 128); /* Fully opaque */ background-color: rgb(117 190 218 / 0.5); /* 50% transparent */ /* HSL value */ background-color: hsl(50 33% 25%); /* Fully opaque */ background-color: hsl(50 33% 25% / 0.75); /* 75% opaque, i.e. 25% transparent */ /* Special keyword values */ background-color: currentcolor; background-color: transparent; /* Global values */ background-color: inherit; background-color: initial; background-color: revert; background-color: revert-layer; background-color: unset;
The background-color property is specified as a single value.
Values
The uniform color of the background. It is rendered behind any background-image that is specified, although the color will still be visible through any transparency in the image.
Accessibility concerns
It is important to ensure that the contrast ratio between the background color and the color of the text placed over it is high enough that people experiencing low vision conditions will be able to read the content of the page.
Color contrast ratio is determined by comparing the luminance of the text and background color values. In order to meet current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a ratio of 4.5:1 is required for text content and 3:1 for larger text such as headings. Large text is defined as 18.66px and bold or larger, or 24px or larger.
Formal definition
Formal syntax
Examples
HTML
div class="exampleone">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuerdiv> div class="exampletwo">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuerdiv> div class="examplethree">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuerdiv>
CSS
.exampleone background-color: transparent; > .exampletwo background-color: rgb(153, 102, 153); color: rgb(255, 255, 204); > .examplethree background-color: #777799; color: #ffffff; >
Result
Specifications
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser
See also
Found a content problem with this page?
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3 Methods to Set a Background Color with HTML & CSS
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA. Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities.
This article has been viewed 1,504,636 times.
Did you want to change the background color of that page using HTML? Unfortunately, with HTML 5, this is no longer possible in just HTML coding. Instead, you’ll need to use both HTML and CSS coding, which works even better. This wikiHow teaches you how to change the background color of a web page by editing its HTML and CSS.
- Although the attribute for HTML to manage background color is gone, you can still use HTML with CSS to change your background color easily.
- You’ll need a numeric code for the color you want if you want a specific color. If you don’t need a specific color, you can use words like «orange» or «light blue.»
- When editing a web page with HTML and CSS, you can create a solid background, gradient, or changing background.
Setting a Solid Background Color
body background-color: #d24dff; >
DOCTYPE html> html> head> style> body background-color: #d24dff > style> head> html>
DOCTYPE html> html> head> style> body background-color: #93B874; > h1 background-color: #00b33c; > p background-color: #FFFFFF); > style> head> body> h1>Header with Green Backgroundh1> p>Paragraph with white backgroundp> body> html>
Creating a Gradient Background
Understand the basic syntax of this process. When making a gradient, there are two pieces of information you’ll need: the starting point/angle, and the colors that the gradient will transition between. You can select multiple colors to have the gradient move between all of them, and you can set a direction or angle for the gradient. [2] X Research source
background: linear-gradient(direction/angle, color1, color2, color3, etc);
html min-height: 100%; > body background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#93B874, #C9DCB9); background: -o-linear-gradient(#93B874, #C9DCB9); background: -moz-linear-gradient(#93B874, #C9DCB9); background: linear-gradient(#93B874, #C9DCB9); background-color: #93B874; >
html min-height: 100%;> body background: -webkit-linear-gradient(left, #93B874, #C9DCB9); background: -o-linear-gradient(right, #93B874, #C9DCB9); background: -moz-linear-gradient(right, #93B874, #C9DCB9); background: linear-gradient(to right, #93B874, #C9DCB9); background-color: #93B874; >
- For example, not only can you add more than two colors, you can also put a percentage after each one. This will allow you to set how much spacing you want each color segment to have. Here’s a sample gradient that uses this principle:
background: linear-gradient(#93B874 10%, #C9DCB9 70%, #000000 90%);
background: linear-gradient(to right, rgba(147,184,116,0), rgba(147,184,116,1));
DOCTYPE html> html> head> style> html min-height: 100%; > body background: -webkit-linear-gradient(left, #93B874, #C9DCB9); background: -o-linear-gradient(right, #93B874, #C9DCB9); background: -moz-linear-gradient(right, #93B874, #C9DCB9); background: linear-gradient(to right, #93B874, #C9DCB9); background-color: #93B874; > style> head> body> body> html>
Creating a Changing Background
-webkit-animation: colorchange 60s infinite; animation: colorchange 60s infinite;
@-webkit-keyframes colorchange 0% background: #33FFF3;> 25% background: #78281F;> 50% background: #117A65;> 75% background: #DC7633;> 100% background: #9B59B6;> > @keyframes colorchange 0% background: #33FFF3;> 25% background: #78281F;> 50% background: #117A65;> 75% background: #DC7633;> 100% background: #9B59B6;> >
DOCTYPE html> html> head> style> body -webkit-animation: colorchange 60s infinite; animation: colorchange 60s infinite; > @-webkit-keyframes colorchange 0% background: #33FFF3;> 25% background: #78281F;> 50% background: #117A65;> 75% background: #DC7633;> 100% background: #9B59B6;> > @keyframes colorchange 0% background: #33FFF3;> 25% background: #78281F;> 50% background: #117A65;> 75% background: #DC7633;> 100% background: #9B59B6;> > style> head> body> body> html>
Community Q&A
Use the background-size property inside of the «body» element. For example, «background-size: 300px 150px» makes the background 300 pixels wide and 150 pixels high.
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As a small thank you, we’d like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full price—wine, food delivery, clothing and more. Enjoy! Claim Your Gift If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
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As a small thank you, we’d like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full price—wine, food delivery, clothing and more. Enjoy! Claim Your Gift If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow