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CSS Properties

align-content align-items align-self all animation animation-delay animation-direction animation-duration animation-fill-mode animation-iteration-count animation-name animation-play-state animation-timing-function backface-visibility background background-attachment background-blend-mode background-clip background-color background-image background-origin background-position background-repeat background-size border border-bottom border-bottom-color border-bottom-left-radius border-bottom-right-radius border-bottom-style border-bottom-width border-collapse border-color border-image border-image-outset border-image-repeat border-image-slice border-image-source border-image-width border-left border-left-color border-left-style border-left-width border-radius border-right border-right-color border-right-style border-right-width border-spacing border-style border-top border-top-color border-top-left-radius border-top-right-radius border-top-style border-top-width border-width bottom box-decoration-break box-shadow box-sizing caption-side caret-color @charset clear clip clip-path color column-count column-fill column-gap column-rule column-rule-color column-rule-style column-rule-width column-span column-width columns content counter-increment counter-reset cursor direction display empty-cells filter flex flex-basis flex-direction flex-flow flex-grow flex-shrink flex-wrap float font @font-face font-family font-kerning font-size font-size-adjust font-stretch font-style font-variant font-weight grid grid-area grid-auto-columns grid-auto-flow grid-auto-rows grid-column grid-column-end grid-column-gap grid-column-start grid-gap grid-row grid-row-end grid-row-gap grid-row-start grid-template grid-template-areas grid-template-columns grid-template-rows hanging-punctuation height hyphens @import isolation justify-content @keyframes left letter-spacing line-height list-style list-style-image list-style-position list-style-type margin margin-bottom margin-left margin-right margin-top max-height max-width @media min-height min-width mix-blend-mode object-fit object-position opacity order outline outline-color outline-offset outline-style outline-width overflow overflow-x overflow-y padding padding-bottom padding-left padding-right padding-top page-break-after page-break-before page-break-inside perspective perspective-origin pointer-events position quotes resize right scroll-behavior tab-size table-layout text-align text-align-last text-decoration text-decoration-color text-decoration-line text-decoration-style text-indent text-justify text-overflow text-shadow text-transform top transform transform-origin transform-style transition transition-delay transition-duration transition-property transition-timing-function unicode-bidi user-select vertical-align visibility white-space width word-break word-spacing word-wrap writing-mode z-index



CSS background Property


Example

Set different background properties in one declaration:

body {
  background: lightblue url("img_tree.gif") no-repeat fixed center;
}
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The background property is a shorthand property for:

It does not matter if one of the values above are missing, e.g. background:#ff0000 url(smiley.gif); is allowed.

Default value: see individual properties
Inherited: no
Animatable: yes, see individual properties. Read about animatable Try it
Version: CSS1 + new properties in CSS3
JavaScript syntax: object.style.background="red url(smiley.gif) top left no-repeat" Try it

Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Property
background 1.0 4.0 1.0 1.0 3.5

Note: Internet Explorer 8 and earlier versions do not support multiple background images on one element.

Note: See individual browser support for each value below.



CSS Syntax

background: bg-color bg-image position/bg-size bg-repeat bg-origin bg-clip bg-attachment initial|inherit;

Note: If one of the properties in the shorthand declaration is the bg-size property, you must use a / (slash) to separate it from the bg-position property, e.g. background:url(smiley.gif) 10px 20px/50px 50px; will result in a background image, positioned 10 pixels from the left, 20 pixels from the top, and the size of the image will be 50 pixels wide and 50 pixels high.

Note: If using multiple background-image sources but also want a background-color, the background-color parameter needs to be last in the list.

Property Values

Value Description CSS
background-color Specifies the background color to be used 1
background-image Specifies ONE or MORE background images to be used 1
background-position Specifies the position of the background images 1
background-size Specifies the size of the background images 3
background-repeat Specifies how to repeat the background images 1
background-origin Specifies the positioning area of the background images 3
background-clip Specifies the painting area of the background images 3
background-attachment Specifies whether the background images are fixed or scrolls with the rest of the page 1
initial Sets this property to its default value. Read about initial 3
inherit Inherits this property from its parent element. Read about inherit 2

Related Pages

CSS tutorial: CSS Background, CSS Backgrounds (advanced)

HTML DOM reference: background property