Many of you have probably heard all the buzz around CSS3, but exactly which techniques can we use today? In this article I’ll show you some different CSS3 techniques that work great in some of the leading browsers (i.e. Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera ), and how they will degrade well in the non-supported browsers (i.e. Internet Explorer). Using browser specific extensions, many of the proposed CSS3 styles can be used today!
If you aren’t aware of the browser extensions, these are CSS styles with a vendor specific prefix. Since CSS3 is not fully supported yet, we must use these extensions. They are as follows:
-moz--webkit- (note: Some webkit prefixes only work in Safari, and not Chrome)As you might have guessed, one of the downsides of using these extensions is the fact that we must use all of the above prefixes to get the CSS3 style to render in Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. And no surprise to anyone, IE does not support CSS3 or do they have extensions like the other leading browsers. Alright, enough talking, lets dive right in! Note: styles without a prefix are the actual W3 specification proposal.
The examples are all on this page, so if you’re not seeing some examples properly (or not at all), then the browser you’re using doesn’t support the particular CSS3 technique.
The drop shadow effect accepts multiple values. First is simply the color of the shadow. It will accept four length values, and the first two are the x (horizontal) offset and the y (vertical) offset. The next value is the amount of blur added to the shadow. The fourth and final value is the spread amount of the blur. Box shadow will also accept an inset keyword that will create an inset shadow.
box-shadow: #333 3px 3px 4px; -moz-box-shadow: #333 3px 3px 4px; -webkit-box-shadow: #333 3px 3px 4px;
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Gradients can be pretty confusing at first, especially when comparing the differences between -moz and -webkit. With -moz you first define the direction of the gradient, then determine the starting and ending color. -webkit gradients take a little more code. First you define the type of gradient. The next two values define the direction. Finally, the last two values define the starting and ending color of the gradient.
-moz-linear-gradient(-90deg,#1aa6de,#022147); -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#1aa6de), to(#022147));
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The RGBA color method is actually easier than it may look at first. It takes four values, and in order they are: the amount of red, amount of green, amount of blue, and the level of opacity. Instead of using a hex (#) color, you set the color in RGB mode, while the level of opacity can give the color a transparent look. The opacity accepts values between 0 and 1, with 0 being fully opaque and 1 being the actual defined color. The example below has an opacity value of .5, causing the element to be 50% transparent. rgba doesn’t actually require any of the browser extensions.
background-color: rgba(0, 54, 105, .5);
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