W3C

CSS Backgrounds and Borders Module Level 3

W3C Working Draft 10 September 2008

This version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-css3-background-20080910
Latest version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-background
Previous versions:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-css3-background-20050216
http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-css3-border-20021107
Editors:
Bert Bos (W3C)
Elika J. Etemad

Abstract

CSS is a language for describing the rendering of structured documents (such as HTML and XML) on screen, on paper, in speech, etc. This draft contains the features of CSS level 3 relating to borders and backgrounds. It includes and extends the functionality of CSS level 2 [CSS21], which builds on CSS level 1 [CSS1]. The main extensions compared to level 2 are borders consisting of images, boxes with multiple backgrounds, boxes with rounded corners and boxes with shadows.

This module replaces two earlier drafts: CSS3 Backgrounds and CSS3 Border.

Status of this document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.

Publication as a Working Draft does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.

The (archived) public mailing list www-style@w3.org (see instructions) is preferred for discussion of this specification. When sending e-mail, please put the text “css3-background” in the subject, preferably like this: “[css3-background] …summary of comment…

This document was produced by the CSS Working Group (part of the Style Activity).

This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

Not all the corrections and clarifications in the revised edition of CSS2 [CSS21] have been applied to this draft yet. In case of conflict (other than on properties and values that are clearly new to CSS3), CSS 2.1 probably represents the intention of the CSS WG better than this draft.

The CSS WG maintains an issues list for this module.

The following features are at-risk and may be dropped at the end of the CR period: inner shadows for ‘box-shadow’, ‘no-clip’ keyword for ‘background-clip’.

Table of contents

1. Introduction

This section is not normative.

When elements are rendered according to the CSS box model [CSS21], each element is either not displayed at all, or formatted as one or more rectangular boxes. Each box has a rectangular content area, a band of padding around the content, a border around the padding, and a margin outside the border. (The margin may actually be negative, but margins have no influence on the background and border.)

Diagram of a typical box, showing the content, padding,
    border and margin areas

The various areas and edges of a typical box. (This diagram is explained in the CSS2.1 Box Model chapter [CSS21].)

The child elements of an element usually create boxes of their own, that are placed inside the content area of their parent, although they may also be placed outside it.

The reason an element may result in more than one box, is that elements may be broken at the end of a line (for inline elements), at the end of a column or at the end of a page and create further boxes in the next line, column or page.

The properties of this module deal with the contents of the border area and with the background of the content, padding and border areas.

That background may be fully transparent (the default), or it may be filled with a color, one or more images, or both images and color. The background properties specify what color ( ‘background-color’) and images ( ‘background-image’) to use, where they are placed ( ‘background-position’), whether they are repeated or scaled ( ‘background-repeat’, ‘background-size’), etc.

The ‘border-image’ property can also define a background image, which, if present, is added on top of that of the background properties.

The border can either be a predefined style (solid line, double line, dotted line, pseudo-3D border, etc.) or it can be an image. In the former case, three properties define the style of the four border sides ( ‘border-style’), color ( ‘border-color’) and thickness ( ‘border-width’). In the latter case, the sides and corners are taken from the sides and corners of an image specified with ‘border-image’. The image can be sliced, scaled and stretched in various ways to fit the size of the border.

If an element is broken into multiple boxes, ‘border-break’ and ‘background-break’ define how the borders and background are divided over the various boxes.

There is also another kind of decoration that can be added to an element: a drop shadow, via the ‘box-shadow’ property.

2. Values

This specification follows the CSS property definition conventions from [CSS21].

<color>’ values are defined in CSS Color Level 3 [CSS3COLOR].

<image>’ values are defined by this specification as ‘<uri>’. (A future specification may expand the definition of ‘<image>’ to allow other values, e.g. to define image slices.)

All other values are defined in CSS Level 2 Revision 1 [CSS21].

3. Background properties

3.1 Layering multiple background images

The background of a box can have multiple layers in CSS3. The properties ‘background-image’, ‘background-origin’, ‘background-clip’, ‘background-repeat’, ‘background-size’, and ‘background-position’ may have multiple comma-separated values. If the values are specified as follows:

background-image: w1, w2, w3,…, wM
background-repeat: x1, x2, x3,…, xR
background-size: y1, y2, y3,…, yS
background-position: s1, s2, s3,…, sP

then the number of layers is N = max(M, R, S, P)

Each of the properties is interpreted as if it had N values, by repeating the specified values like this:

background-image: w1,…wM, w1,…wM, w1,… /* N values */
background-repeat: x1,…xR, x1,…xR, x1,… /* N values */
background-size: y1,…yS, y1,…yS, y1,… /* N values */
background-position: s1,…rP, s1,…rP, s1,… /* N values */

This set of declarations:

background-image: url(flower.png), url(ball.png), url(grass.png);
background-position: center center, 20% 80%, top left;
background-origin: border-box, content-box;

has exactly the same effect as this set with the origin values repeated (displayed in bold for clarity):

background-image: url(flower.png), url(ball.png), url(grass1.png);
background-position: center center, 20% 80%, top left;
background-origin: border-box, content-box, border-box;

Likewise, this set of declarations:

background-image: url(red.png), url(blue.png);
background-repeat: repeat-x, repeat-y, repeat-y;
background-position: 20% 25%, 40% 10%, 50% 15%, 70% 40%, 90% 35%;

has the same effect as:

background-image: url(red.png), url(blue.png), url(red.png),
    url(blue.png), url(red.png);
background-repeat: repeat-x, repeat-y, repeat-y, repeat-x, repeat-y;
background-position: 20% 25%, 40% 10%, 50% 15%, 70% 40%, 90% 35%;

Each of the images is repeated, sized, and positioned according to the corresponding value in the other properties. The first image in the list is the layer closest to the user, the next one is painted behind the first, and so on. The background color, if present, is painted below all of the other layers.

3.2 The ‘background-color’ property

Name: background-color
Value: <color> [ / <color> ]? | / <color>
Initial: transparent
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: the computed color(s)

This property sets the background color of an element. The color is drawn behind any background images. The color after the slash, if present, is used instead of the first color in the case the element's specified bottom-most background image, if any, cannot be drawn. This color is called the fallback color. If the color before the slash is missing, it is assumed to be ‘transparent’.

Example:

h1 { background-color: #F00 }
div { background-color: / white; } /* Equivalent to background-color: transparent / white; */

Both the normal color and the fallback color are clipped according to the ‘background-clip’ value associated with the bottom-most background image.

3.3 The ‘background-image’ property

Name: background-image
Value: [ <image> | none ] [ , [ <image> | none ] ]*
Initial: none
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: as specified, but with URIs made absolute

This property sets the background image(s) of an element. Images are drawn with the first specified one on top (closest to the user) and each subsequent image behind the previous one.

A value of ‘none’ counts as an image layer but draws nothing. An image that is empty (zero width or zero height), that fails to download, or that cannot be displayed (e.g., because it is not in a supported image format) has the same effect as ‘none’.

See the section “Layering multiple background images” for how ‘background-image’ interacts with other comma-separated background properties to form each background image layer.

Some examples specifying background images:

body { background-image: url("marble.svg") }
p { background-image: none }
div { background-image: url(tl.png), url(tr.png) }

Implementations may optimize by not downloading and drawing images that are not visible (e.g., because they are behind other, fully opaque images).

3.4 The ‘background-repeat’ property

Name: background-repeat
Value: <repeat> [ , <repeat> ]*
Initial: repeat
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: as specified

Specifies how background images are tiled after they have been sized and positioned. The type <repeat> stands for:

repeat-x | repeat-y | [repeat | space | round | no-repeat]{1,2}

Single values for <repeat> have the following meanings:

repeat-x
Equivalent to ‘repeat no-repeat’.
repeat-y
Equivalent to ‘no-repeat repeat’.
repeat
Equivalent to ‘repeat repeat’.
no-repeat
Equivalent to ‘no-repeat no-repeat
space
Equivalent to ‘space space
round
Equivalent to ‘round round

If a <repeat> value has two keywords, the first one is for the horizontal direction, the second for the vertical one, as follows:

Should "positioning area" be "painting area" here or vice versa?

repeat
The image is repeated in this direction as often as needed to cover the background painting area.
no-repeat
The image is placed once and not repeated in this direction.
space
The image is repeated as often as will fit within the background positioning area without being clipped and then the images are spaced out to fill the area. The first and last images touch the edges of the area. If the background painting area is larger than the background positioning area, then the pattern repeats to fill the background painting area. The value of ‘background-position’ for this direction is ignored, unless there is not enough space for two copies of the image in this direction, in which case only one image is placed and ‘background-position’ determines its position in this direction.
round
The image is repeated as often as will fit within the background positioning area. If it doesn't fit a whole number of times, it is reduced in size until it does. See explanation under ‘background-size’. If the background painting area is larger than the background positioning area, then the pattern repeats to fill the background painting area.

Unless one of the two keywords is ‘no-repeat’, the whole background painting area will be tiled, i.e., not just one vertical strip and one horizontal strip.

Example(s):

body {
  background: white url("pendant.png");
  background-repeat: repeat-y;
  background-position: center;
}

A centered background image, with copies repeated up and
     down the border, padding and content areas.

The effect of ‘repeat-y’: One copy of the background image is centered, and other copies are put above and below it to make a vertical band behind the element.

Example(s):

body {
  background-image: url(dot.png) white;
  background-repeat: space
}

Image of an element with a dotted background

The effect of ‘space’: the image of a dot is tiled to cover the whole background and the images are equally spaced.

See the section “Layering multiple background images” for how ‘background-repeat’ interacts with other comma-separated background properties to form each background image layer.

3.5 The ‘background-attachment’ property

Name: background-attachment
Value: scroll | fixed | local [, scroll | fixed | local]*
Initial: scroll
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: as specified

If background images are specified, this property specifies whether they are fixed with regard to the viewport (‘fixed’) scroll along with the element (‘scroll’ and ‘local’).

The difference between ‘scroll’ and ‘local’ is only visible when the element has a scrolling mechanism (see the ‘overflow’ property [CSS21]): in the case of ‘scroll’, the background does not scroll with the element's content. (It is attached to the element's border, as it were.) In the case of ‘local’, the background scrolls along with the element's content. In this case, the background behind the element's border (if any) scrolls as well, even though the border itself does not scroll with the contents. The UA may, however, treat the ‘no-clip’ and ‘border-box’ values of ‘background-clip’ as ‘padding-box’ in cases where ‘background-attachment’ is ‘local’ and the contents of the element scroll.

Even if the image is fixed, it is still only visible when it is in the background painting area of the element or otherwise unclipped. Thus, unless the image is tiled, it may be invisible.

This example creates an infinite vertical band that remains “glued” to the viewport when the element is scrolled.

body {
  background: red url("pendant.gif");
  background-repeat: repeat-y;
  background-attachment: fixed;
}

User agents that do not support ‘fixed’ backgrounds (for example due to limitations of the hardware platform) should ignore declarations with the keyword ‘fixed’. For example:

body {
   /* For all UAs: */
   background: white url(paper.png) scroll;
   /* For UAs that do fixed backgrounds: */
   background: white url(ledger.png) fixed;
}
h1 {
   /* For all UAs: */
   background: silver;
   /* For UAs that do fixed backgrounds: */
   background: url(stripe.png) fixed, white url(ledger.png) fixed;
}

See the section “Layering multiple background images” for how ‘background-attachment’ interacts with other comma-separated background properties to form each background image layer.

3.6 The ‘background-position’ property

Name: background-position
Value: <bg-position> [ , <bg-position> ]*
Initial: 0% 0%
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: refer to size of background positioning area minus size of background image; see text
Media: visual
Computed value: If one or two values are specified, for a <length> the absolute value, otherwise a percentage. If three or four values are specified, two pairs of a keyword plus a length or percentage.

If background images have been specified, this property specifies their initial position within their corresponding background positioning area.

The <bg-position> stands for:

[
  [ [ <percentage> | <length> | left | center | right ] ]
  [ [ <percentage> | <length> | top | center | bottom ] ]?
|
  [ center | [ left | right ] [ <percentage> | <length> ]? ] ||
  [ center | [ top | bottom ] [ <percentage> | <length> ]? ]
]

If only one value is specified, the second value is assumed to be ‘center’. If two values are given and at least one value is not a keyword, then the first value represents the horizontal position (or offset) and the second represents the vertical position (or offset). <percentage> and <length> values here represent an offset of the top left corner of the background image from the top left corner of the background positioning area.

If three or four values are given, then each <percentage> or <length> represents an offset and must be preceded by a keyword, which specifies from which edge the offset is given. For example, ‘background-position: bottom 10px right 20px’ represents a ‘10px’ vertical offset up from the bottom edge and a ‘20px’ horizontal offset leftward from the right edge. If three values are given, the missing offset is assumed to be zero.

Positive values represent an offset inward from the edge of the background positioning area. Negative values represent an offset outward from the edge of the background positioning area.

The following declarations give the stated (horizontal, vertical) offsets from the top left corner:

   background-position: left 10px top 15px;   /* 10px, 15px */
   background-position: left      top     ;   /*  0px,  0px */
   background-position:      10px     15px;   /* 10px, 15px */
   background-position: left          15px;   /*  0px, 15px */
   background-position:      10px top     ;   /* 10px,  0px */
   background-position: left      top 15px;   /*  0px, 15px */
   background-position: left 10px top     ;   /* 10px,  0px */

Is this a reasonable syntax for specifying offsets from the bottom right corner? What do people think?

<percentage>

A percentage for the horizontal offset is relative to (width background positioning area - width of background image). A percentage for the vertical offset is relative to (height background positioning area - height of background image), where the size of the image is the size given by ‘background-size’.

For example, with a value pair of ‘0% 0%’, the upper left corner of the image is aligned with the upper left corner of, usually, the box's padding edge. A value pair of ‘100% 100%’ places the lower right corner of the image in the lower right corner of the area. With a value pair of ‘75% 50%’, the point 75% across and 50% down the image is to be placed at the point 75% across and 50% down the area.

Diagram of image position within element

Diagram of the meaning of ‘background-position: 75% 50%’.

<length>
A length value gives a fixed length as the offset. For example, with a value pair of ‘2cm 1cm’, the upper left corner of the image is placed 2cm to the right and 1cm below the upper left corner of the background positioning area.
top
Equivalent to ‘0%’ for the vertical position if one or two values are given, otherwise specifies the top edge as the origin for the next offset.
right
Equivalent to ‘100%’ for the horizontal position if one or two values are given, otherwise specifies the right edge as the origin for the next offset.
bottom
Equivalent to ‘100%’ for the vertical position if one or two values are given, otherwise specifies the bottom edge as the origin for the next offset.
left
Equivalent to ‘0%’ for the horizontal position if one or two values are given, otherwise specifies the left edge as the origin for the next offset.
center
Equivalent to ‘50%’ (‘left 50%’) for the horizontal position if it is not otherwise given, or ‘50%’ (‘top 50%’) for the vertical position if it is.

The following ‘background’ shorthand declarations use keywords to set ‘background-position’ to the stated percentage values.

  body { background: url("banner.jpeg") right top }    /* 100%   0% */
  body { background: url("banner.jpeg") top center }   /*  50%   0% */
  body { background: url("banner.jpeg") center }       /*  50%  50% */
  body { background: url("banner.jpeg") bottom }       /*  50% 100% */
  

In the example below, the (single) image is placed in the lower-right corner of the viewport.

  body {
    background-image: url("logo.png");
    background-attachment: fixed;
    background-position: 100% 100%;
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
  }
  

With the ‘calc()’ notation from the Values and Units module [CSS3VAL], background positions can also be relative to other corners than the top left. E.g., the following puts the background image 10px from the bottom and 3em from the right:

background-position: calc(100% - 3em) calc(100% - 10px)

See the section “Layering multiple background images” for how ‘background-position’ interacts with other comma-separated background properties to form each background image layer.

3.7 The ‘background-clip’ property

Name: background-clip
Value: [border-box | padding-box | content-box | no-clip] [ , [border-box | padding-box | content-box | no-clip] ]*
Initial: border-box
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: same as specified value

Determines the background painting area. Values have the following meanings:

padding-box
The background is painted within (clipped to) the padding box.
border-box
The background is painted within (clipped to) the border box.
content-box
The background is painted within (clipped to) the content box.
no-clip
The background painting area is defined to be the border box; however if the background image is not repeated in a particular direction, then the image is not clipped in that direction and may paint outside the border box. (Background images may still be clipped by ‘overflow’ or by the viewport.) A value of ‘no-clip’ for the bottommost image also clips the background color to the border box.

Note that the background is always drawn behind the border, if any. See “Elaborate description of Stacking Contexts” in [CSS21].

See the section “Layering multiple background images” for how ‘background-clip’ interacts with other comma-separated background properties to form each background image layer.

3.8 The ‘background-origin’ property

Name: background-origin
Value: [border-box | padding-box | content-box] [, [border-box | padding-box | content-box]]*
Initial: padding-box
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: same as specified value

For elements rendered as a single box, specifies the background positioning area. For elements rendered as multiple boxes (e.g., inline boxes on several lines, boxes on several pages) specifies which boxes the ‘background-break’ operates on to determine the background positioning area(s).

padding-box
The position is relative to the padding box. (For single boxes ‘0 0’ is the upper left corner of the padding edge, ‘100% 100%’ is the lower right corner.)
border-box
The position is relative to the border box.
content-box
The position is relative to the content box.

If the ‘background-attachment’ value for this image is ‘fixed’, then this property has no effect: in this case the background positioning area is the initial containing block.

Note that if ‘background-clip’ is ‘padding-box’, ‘background-origin’ is ‘border-box’, and ‘background-position’ is top left (the initial value), then the top left of the background image will be clipped.

See the section “Layering multiple background images” for how ‘background-clip’ interacts with other comma-separated background properties to form each background image layer.

3.9 The ‘background-size’ property

Name: background-size
Value: [ [ <length> | <percentage> | auto ]{1,2} | cover | contain ] [ [ , [ <length> | <percentage> | auto ]{1,2} ] | cover | contain ]*
Initial: auto
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: see text
Media: visual
Computed value: for <length> the absolute value, otherwise as specified

Specifies the size of the background images. Values have the following meanings:

contain
Scale the image, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (if any), to the largest size such that both its width and its height can fit inside the background positioning area.
cover
Scale the image, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (if any), to the largest size such that both its width and its height can completely cover the background positioning area.
[ <length> | <percentage> | auto ]{1,2}

The first value gives the width of the corresponding image, the second value its height. If only one value is given the second is assumed to be ‘auto’.

A percentage is relative to the background positioning area.

An ‘auto’ value for one dimension is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio and the size of the other dimension, or failing that, using the image's intrinsic size, or failing that, treating it as 100%.

If both values are ‘auto’ then the intrinsic width and/or height of the image should be used, if any, the missing dimension (if any) behaving as ‘auto’ as described above. If the image has neither an intrinsic width nor an intrinsic height, its size is determined as for ‘contain’.

Negative values are not allowed. A size of zero is allowed, but causes the image not to be displayed. (The effect is the same as if it had been a transparent image.)

Here are some examples. The first example stretches the background image independently in both directions to completely cover the content area:

div {
    background-image: url(plasma.png);
    background-size: 100% 100%;
    background-origin: content-box }

The second example stretches the image so that exactly two copies fit horizontally. The aspect ratio is preserved:

p {
    background-image: url(tubes.png);
    background-size: 50% auto;
    background-origin: border-box }

This example forces the background image to be 15 by 15 pixels:

para {
    background-size: 15px 15px;
    background-image: url(tile.png)}

This example uses the image's intrinsic size. Note that this is the only possible behavior in CSS level 1 and 2.

body {
    background-size: auto;            /* default */
    background-image: url(flower.png) }

The following example rounds the height of the image to 25%, down from the specified value of 30%. At 30%, three images would fit entirely and a fourth only partially. After rounding, four images fit. The width of the image is 20% of the background area width and is not rounded.

p {
    background-image: url(chain.png);
    background-repeat: no-repeat round;
    background-size: 20% 30% }

If ‘background-repeat’ is ‘round’ for one (or both) directions, there is a second step. The UA must reduce the size in that direction (or both directions) so that the image fits a whole number of times in the background area. In the case of the width:

If X ≠ 0 is the width of the image after step one and W is the width of the background area, then the rounded width X' = W / ceil(W / X)

The height is analogous. ceil() is a function that returns its argument if it is a whole number, otherwise the next bigger whole number.

If ‘background-repeat’ is ‘round’ for one direction only and if ‘background-size’ is ‘auto’ for the other direction, then there is a third step: that other direction is scaled so that the original aspect ratio is restored.

In this example the background image is shown at its intrinsic size:

div {
  background-image: url(image1.png);
  background-repeat: repeat;         /* default */
  background-size: auto }            /* default */

In the following example, the background is shown with a width of 3em and its height is scaled proportionally to keep the original aspect ratio:

div {
  background-image: url(image2.png);
  background-repeat: repeat;         /* default */
  background-size: 3em }             /* = '3em auto' */

In the following example, the background is shown with a width of 3em or slightly smaller, so that it fits a whole number of times in the width of the background. The height is scaled proportionally to keep the original aspect ratio:

div {
  background-image: url(image3.png);
  background-repeat: round repeat;
  background-size: 3em auto }

In the following example, the background image is shown with a width of 3em and a height that is either the height corresponding to that width at the original aspect ratio or slightly less:

div {
  background-image: url(image4.png);
  background-repeat: repeat round;
  background-size: 3em auto }

In the following example, the background image is shown with a height of 4em or slightly less, so that it fits a whole number of times in the background height. The width is the width that correspond to a 4em height at the original aspect ratio or slightly less:

div {
  background-image: url(image5.png);
  background-repeat: round;
  background-size: auto 4em }

See the section “Layering multiple background images” for how ‘background-clip’ interacts with other comma-separated background properties to form each background image layer.

3.10 The ‘background-break’ property

Name: background-break
Value: bounding-box | each-box | continuous
Initial: continuous
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: same as specified value

This property applies to elements when they are broken into several boxes (for example, across lines or across pages). It specifies how the background positioning area is derived from these multiple boxes and how the element's background is drawn within them.

Values have the following meanings:

bounding-box
The background positioning area is the smallest rectangle that encloses all broken boxes of the element. If the boxes are on different pages, the pages are treated as one continuous page—as if their page content areas were glued together in the block progression direction of the root element (i.e. glued together top to bottom for horizontal writing mode)—and the rectangle drawn on this continuous page. If the page content areas have different widths, then they are aligned on the start edge (as defined by the properties applied to the root element). The background is only painted where indicated by ‘background-clip’.
each-box
The background is drawn independently in each box of the element. A no-repeat background image will thus be rendered once in each box of the element.
continuous

The effect is as if, after the element has been laid out (including any justification, bidi reordering, page breaks, etc.), all the element's boxes are taken and put one after the other in visual order. The background is applied to the bounding box of this composite box and then the boxes are put back, with their share of the background.

For boxes broken across lines, first boxes on the same line are connected in visual order. Then boxes on subsequent lines are ordered according to the {containing block's | element's} inline progression direction and aligned on the baseline. For example in a left-to-right containing block (‘direction’ is ‘ltr’), the first box is the leftmost box on the first line and boxes from subsequent lines are put to the right of it. In a right-to-left containing block, the first box is the rightmost on the first line and subsequent boxes are put to the left of it.

For boxes broken across columns, the the columns are treated as one continuous element, as if the column boxes were glued together in the block progression direction of the multi-column element. For boxes broken across pages, the page content areas are glued together in the block progression direction of the root element. In these cases, if the pieces have different widths (heights, if the root element / multi-column element is in vertical writing moode), then each piece draws its background assuming that the whole element has the same width (height) as this piece. This ensures that right-aligned images stay aligned to the right edge, left-aligned images stay aligned to the left edge, and centered images stay centered.

3.11 The ‘background’ shorthand property

Name: background
Value: [ <bg-layer> , ]* <final-bg-layer>
Initial: see individual properties
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: see individual properties
Media: visual
Computed value: see individual properties

<bg-layer> stands for:

<'background-image'>
|| <'background-position'>
|| / <'background-size'>
|| <'background-repeat'>
|| <'background-attachment'>
|| <'background-origin'>
|| no-clip

where ''/ <‘background-size’> must occur after <‘background-position’>'' if both are present.

<final-bg-layer> stands for:

< 'background-image'>
|| <'background-position'>
|| / <'background-size'>
|| <'background-repeat'>
|| <'background-attachment'>
|| <'background-origin'>
|| no-clip
|| <'background-color'>

where ''/ <‘background-size’> must occur after <‘background-position’>'' if both are present.

Note that a color is permitted in <final-bg-layer>, but not in <bg-layer>.

The ‘background’ property is a shorthand property for setting most background properties at the same place in the style sheet. It sets each of ‘background-color’, ‘background-position’, ‘background-size’, ‘background-repeat’, ‘background-origin’, ‘background-attachment’ and ‘background-image’ to the value given, or to its initial value, if no explicit value was specified. If the ‘no-clip’ keyword is present, it sets ‘background-clip’ to that value. Otherwise if ‘background-origin’ is present then it also sets ‘background-clip’ to that value, and if not it sets ‘background-clip’ to its initial value. I.e. background: no-clip sets ‘background-clip’ to ‘no-clip’ and ‘background-origin’ to its initial value. background: border-box sets both ‘background-origin’ and ‘background-clip’ to ‘border-box’. The ‘background’ shorthand does not set ‘background-break’.

The ‘::first-line’ pseudo-element is like an inline-level element for the purposes of the background (see section 5.12.1 of [CSS21]). That means, e.g., that in a left-justified first line, the background does not necessarily extend all the way to the right margin.

Examples:

In the first rule of the following example, only a value for ‘background-color’ has been given and the other individual properties are set to their initial values. In the second rule, many individual properties have been specified.

body { background: red }
p { background: url("chess.png") (10em) gray
       40% round fixed border border}

The first rule is equivalent to:

body {
    background-color: red;
    background-position: 0% 0%;
    background-size: auto auto;
    background-repeat: repeat repeat;
    background-clip: border-box;
    background-origin: padding-box;
    background-attachment: scroll;
    background-image: none }

The second is equivalent to:

p {
    background-color: gray;
    background-position: 40% 50%;
    background-size: 10em 10em;
    background-repeat: round round;
    background-clip: border-box;
    background-origin: border-box;
    background-attachment: fixed;
    background-image: url(chess.png) }

The following example shows how a both a background color (#CCC) and a background image (url(metal.jpg)) are set. The image is stretched to the full width of the element:

E { background: #CCC url("metal.jpg") (100% auto) no-repeat top left }

Another example shows equivalence:

div { background: padding url(paper.jpg) white center }
div {
    background-color: white;
    background-image: url(paper.jpg);
    background-repeat: repeat;
    background-attachment: scroll;
    background-position: center;
    background-clip: padding-box;
    background-origin: padding-box;
    background-size: auto auto }

The following declaration with multiple, comma-separated values

background: url(a.png) top left no-repeat,
            url(b.png) center (100% 100%) no-repeat,
            url(c.png) white;

is equivalent to

background-image:      url(a.png),  url(b.png),        url(c.png);
background-position:   top left,    center,            top left;
background-repeat:     no-repeat,   stretch no-repeat, repeat;
background-clip:       border-box,  border-box,        border-box;
background-origin:     padding-box, padding-box,       padding-box;
background-size:       auto auto,   100% 100%,         auto auto;
background-attachment: scroll,      scroll,            scroll;
background-color:      white;

Note that ‘background: url(foo) white’ and ‘background: url(foo), white’ have the same effect.

3.12 The background of the canvas

The background of the root element becomes the background of the canvas and extends to cover the entire canvas, although any images are positioned and stretched relative to the root element as if they were painted for that element alone. If the root's background-color value is ‘transparent’, the color is UA dependent. The root element does not paint this background again.

For HTML documents, however, it is recommended that authors specify the background for the BODY element rather than the HTML element. User agents must observe the following precedence rules to fill in the background of the canvas of HTML documents: if either or both of the ‘background-image’ and ‘background-color’ properties on the HTML element is different from their initial values, then use the background of the HTML element, else use the background of the BODY element. This does not apply to XHTML documents.

According to these rules, the canvas underlying the following HTML document will have a “marble” background:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN'
  >
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Setting the canvas background</title>
    <style type="text/css">
       body { background: url("http://example.org/marble.png") }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p>My background is marble.</p>
  </body>
</html>

4. Border properties

4.1 The ‘border-color’ properties

Name: border-top-color , border-right-color, border-bottom-color, border-left-color
Value: <color>
Initial: currentcolor
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: the computed color
Name: border-color
Value: <color>{1,4}
Initial: (see individual properties)
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: see individual properties

These properties set the foreground color of the border specified by the border-style properties.

Border-color’ is a shorthand for the four ‘border-*-color’ properties. The four values set the top, right, bottom and left border, respectively. A missing left is the same as right, a missing bottom is the same as top, and a missing right is also the same as top.

4.2 The ‘border-style’ properties

Name: border-top-style, border-right-style, border-bottom-style, border-left-style
Value: <border-style>
Initial: none
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: specified value
Name: border-style
Value: <border-style>{1,4}
Initial: (see individual properties)
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: see individual properties

These properties set the style of the border, unless there is a border image (see ‘border-image’).

Border-style’ is a shorthand for the other four. Its four values set the top, right, bottom and left border respectively. A missing left is the same as right, a missing bottom is the same as top, and a missing right is also the same as top.

<border-style> is:

none | hidden | dotted | dashed | solid | double | groove | ridge | inset | outset

Values have the following meanings:

none
No border. Color and width are ignored (i.e., the border has width 0, unless the border is an image, see ‘background-image
hidden
Same as ‘none’, but has different behavior in the conflict resolution rules for tables [CSS3TBL].
dotted
A series of round dots.
dashed
A series of square-ended dashes.
solid
A single line segment.
double
Two parallel solid lines with some space between them. (The thickness of the lines is not specified, but the sum of the lines and the space must equal ‘border-width’.)
groove
Looks as if it were carved in the canvas. (This is typically achieved by creating a “shadow” from two colors that are slightly lighter and darker than the ‘border-color’.)
ridge
Looks as if it were coming out of the canvas.
inset
Looks as if the content on inside of the border is sunken into the canvas. Different meaning on table[ref] elements.
outset
Looks as if the content on the inside of the border is coming out of the canvas. Different meaning for table[ref] elements.

Borders are drawn in front of the element's background, but behind the element's content (in case it overlaps).

Examples of border styles

Example renderings of the predefined border styles.

Note: There is no control over the spacing of the dots and dashes, nor over the length of the dashes. Implementations are encouraged to choose a spacing that makes the corners symmetrical.

Note: This specification does not define how borders of different styles should be joined in the corner. Also note that rounded corners may cause the corners and the contents to overlap, if the padding is less than the radius of the corner.

4.3 The ‘border-width’ properties

Name: border-top-width, border-right-width, border-bottom-width, border-left-width
Value: <border-width>
Initial: medium
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: width* of containing block
Media: visual
Computed value: absolute length; ‘0’ if the border style is ‘none’ or ‘hidden
*) if the containing block has a horizontal writing mode, otherwise the height
Name: border-width
Value: <border-width>{1,4}
Initial: (see individual properties)
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: see individual properties
Media: visual
Computed value: see individual properties

These properties set the thickness of the border.

The <border-width> is

<length> | thin | medium | thick

The <length> may not be negative. The lengths corresponding to ‘thin’, ‘medium’ and ‘thick’ are not specified, but the values are constant throughout a document and thin ≤ medium ≤ thick. A UA could, e.g., make the thickness depend on the ‘medium’ font size: one choice might be 1, 3 & 5px when the ‘medium’ font size is 17px or less.

Border-width’ is a shorthand that sets the four ‘border-*-width’ properties. If it has four values, they set top, right, bottom and left in that order. If left is missing, it is the same as right; if bottom is missing, it is the same as top; if right is missing, it is the same as top.

Note that the initial width is ‘medium’, but the initial style is ‘none’ and therefore the used width is 0.

When the used width of the border is 0, we say that the border is absent.

4.4 The ‘border-image’ property

Name: border-image
Value: none | <image> [ <number> | <percentage>]{1,4} [ / <border-width>{1,4} ]? [ stretch | repeat | round ]{0,2}
Initial: none
Applies to: All elements, except table elements when ‘border-collapse’ is ‘collapse
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: any URI made absolute, any <length> made absolute, other parts as specified

Specifies an image to use instead of the border styles given by the ‘border-style’ properties and an additional background image for the element. If the value is ‘none’ or if the image cannot be displayed, the border styles will be used.

The up to four numbers or percentages immediately following the <image> specify which part of that image is used for which part of the border. They divide the image into nine parts: four corners, four edges and a middle part. The middle part is used as an extra background image.

The first of the four values is the height of the top edge and of the two top corners. The second is the width of the right edge and the two right corners. The third is the height of the bottom edge and the two bottom corners. The fourth is the width of the left edge and the two left corners.

If the fourth number/percentage is absent, it is the same as the second. If the third one is also absent, it is the same as the first. If the second one is also absent, it is the same as the first.

Percentages are relative to the size of the image. Numbers represent pixels in the image (if the image is a raster image) or CSS px units (if not). Negative values are not allowed and values bigger than the size of the image are interpreted as 100%.

Diagram: two horizontal cuts and two vertical cuts through
      an image

Diagram illustrating the cuts corresponding to the value ‘url("foo") 25% 30% 12% 20%

If the sum of the right and left widths is equal to or greater than the width of the image, the images for the top and bottom edge and the middle part are empty, which has the same effect as if a nonempty transparent image had been specified for those parts. Analogously for the top and bottom values.

If the slash is present in the property value, the one to four values after it are used for the width of the border instead of the ‘border-width’ properties (but only if the specified image can be displayed). The order of the values is the same as for ‘border-width’.

At the end of the value, there may be up to two keywords, that specify how the images for the sides and the middle part are scaled and tiled. If the second is absent, it is assumed to be the same as the first. If both are absent, the effect is the same as ‘stretch stretch’.

The nine images are scaled and tiled in four steps:

step 1
  • The two images for the top and bottom edges are made as tall as the top and bottom borders, respectively, (either using ‘border-width’ or the values specified after the slash) and their width is scaled proportionally.

  • The images for the left and right edge are made as wide as the left and right borders, respectively, and their height is scaled proportionally.

  • The corner images are scaled to be as wide and as tall as the two borders they are part of.

  • The middle image's width is scaled by the same factor as the top image unless that factor is zero or infinity, in which case the scaling factor of the bottom is substituted, and failing that, the width is not scaled. The height of the middle image is scaled by the same factor as the left image unless that factor is zero or infinity, in which case the scaling factor of the right image is substituted, and failing that, the height is not scaled.

    Clarify that failing means factor is zero or infinity

step 2
  • If the first keyword is ‘stretch’, the top, middle and bottom images are further scaled to be as wide as the element's padding box. The height is not changed any further.

  • If the first keyword is ‘round’, the top, middle and bottom images are reduced in width, so that exactly a whole number of them fit in the width of the padding box, as follows:

    If X ≠ 0 is the width of the image and W is the width of the padding area, then the rounded width X' = W / ceil(W / X)

  • If the first keyword is ‘repeat’, the top, middle, and bottom images are not changed any further.

  • The effects of ‘stretch’, ‘round’, and ‘repeat’ for the second keyword are analogous, acting on the height of the left, middle and right images.

step 3
  • If the first keyword is ‘round’, the top, middle, and bottom images are placed at the left edge of their respective parts of the border (the middle image is put in the padding area). Otherwise the images are centered horizontally in their respective areas.

  • If the second keyword is ‘round’, the left, middle, and right images are placed at the top edge of their respective parts of the border/padding area. Otherwise the images are centered vertically in their respective areas.

step 4
  • The images are then tiled within their respective areas. All images are drawn behind the element's content, in front of the element's background.

This example creates a top and bottom border consisting of a whole number of orange diamonds and a left and right border of a single, stretched diamond. The corners are diamonds of a different color. The image to tile is as follows. Apart from the diamonds, it is transparent:

Tile for border

The image is 81 by 81 pixels and has to be divided into 9 equal parts. The style rules could thus be as follows:

DIV {
  border-image: url("border.png") 27 round stretch;
  border: double orange 1em }

The result, when applied to a DIV of 12 by 5em, will be similar to this:

element with a diamond border

The ‘border-image’ property does not apply to table elements in a table with ‘border-collapse’ set to ‘collapse’.

4.5 The ‘border-radius’ properties

Name: border-top-right-radius, border-bottom-right-radius, border-bottom-left-radius, border-top-left-radius
Value: <length> <length>?
Initial: 0
Applies to: all elements (but see prose)
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: two absolute <length>s
Name: border-radius
Value: <length>{1,4} [ / <length>{1,4} ]?
Initial: 0
Applies to: all elements, except table element when ‘border-collapse’ is ‘collapse
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: see individual properties

The two length values of the ‘border-*-radius’ properties define the radii of a quarter ellipse that defines the shape of the corner of the outer border edge (see the diagram below). The first value is the horizontal radius. If the second length is omitted it is equal to the first (and the corner is thus a quarter circle). If either length is zero, the corner is square, not rounded.

The ‘border-radius’ shorthand sets all four ‘border-*-radius’ properties. If values are given before and after the slash, then the values before the slash set the horizontal radius and the values after the slash set the vertical radius. If there is no slash, then the values set both radii equally. The four values for each radii are given in the order top-left, top-right, bottom-right, bottom-left. If bottom-left is omitted it is the same as top-right. If bottom-right is omitted it is the same as top-left. If top-right is omitted it is the same as top-left.

border-radius: 4em;
would be equivalent to
border-top-left-radius:     4em;
border-top-right-radius:    4em;
border-bottom-right-radius: 4em;
border-bottom-left-radius:  4em;
and
border-radius: 2em 1em 4em / 0.5em 3em;
would be equivalent to
border-top-left-radius:     2em 0.5em;
border-top-right-radius:    1em 3em;
border-bottom-right-radius: 4em 0.5em;
border-bottom-left-radius:  1em 3em;

The padding edge (inner border) radius is the outer border radius minus the corresponding border thickness. In the case where this results in a negative value, the inner radius is zero. (In such cases its center might not coincide with that of the outer border curve.)

Backgrounds, but not the border-image, are clipped to the inner, resp., outer curve of the border if ‘background-clip’ is ‘padding-box’ resp., ‘border-box’. Other effects that clip to the border or padding edge (such as ‘overflow’) also must clip to the curve.

It is recommended that the UA style sheet apply overflow: hidden to elements (such as the <img> element in HTML) that are expected to be replaced elements so that their corners automatically trim to the border radius.

When two adjoining borders are of different thicknesses the corner will show a smooth transition between the thicker and thinner borders. One of the borders may even have zero width.

The center of color and style transitions between adjoining borders is at the point on the curve that is at an angle that is proportional to the ratio of the border widths. For example, if the two widths are equal, that point is at a 45° angle, and if one is twice the width of the other the point is at a 30° angle. The line demarcating this transition is drawn between the point at that angle on the outer curve and the point at that angle on the inner curve. The transition must be contained within the segment of the border where the tangent of the inner curve either not defined or is not parallel with the sides of the box. It is not defined what the transition looks like, but a gradient is recommended for color transitions that don't involve dotted or dashed borders.

Diagram of the inscribed ellips

The two values of ‘border-top-left-radius: 55pt 25pt’ define the curvature of the corner.

The effect of rounded corners on unequal borders

The effect of a rounded corner when the two borders it connects are of unequal thickness (left) and the effect of a rounded corner on borders that are thicker than the radius of the corner (right).

All border styles ( ‘solid’, ‘dotted’, ‘inset’, etc.) follow the curve of the border.

Corners do not overlap: When the sum of two adjacent corner radii exceeds the size of the border box, UAs must reduce one or more of the radii. The algorithm for reducing radii is as follows:

The sum of two adjacent radii may not be more than the width or height (whichever is relevant) of the box. If any sum exceeds that value, all radii are reduced according to the following formula: Let f = min(Li/Si), where i ∈ {top, right, bottom, left}, Si is the sum of the radii of the corners on side i, and Ltop = Lbottom = the width of the box, and Lleft = Lright = the height of the box. If f < 1, then all corner radii are reduced by multiplying them by f.

Note that this formula ensures that quarter circles remain quarter circles and large radii remain larger than smaller ones, but it may reduce corners that were already small enough, which may make borders of nearby elements that should look the same look different.

For example, the borders A and D of the figure below might be the result of

box-width: border-box;
width: 6em;
height: 2.5em;
border-radius: 0.5em 2em 0.5em 2em

The height (2.5em) is enough for the specified radii (0.5em plus 2.5em). However, if the height is only 2em,

box-width: border-box;
width: 6em;
height: 2em;
border-radius: 0.5em 2em 0.5em 2em

all corners need to be reduced by a factor 0.8 to make them fit. The used border radii thus are 0.4em (instead of 0.5em) and 1.6em (instead of 2em). See borders B and C in the figure.

[image: rectangle with two tiny rounded corners and two
       very large ones, on opposite corners]

These rounded corner might be the result of ‘width: 6em; height: 2.5em; border-radius: 0.5em 2em 0.5em 2em’ for A and D; and ditto but with ‘height: 2em’ for B and C.

The UA may apply the border-radius properties to ‘table’ and ‘inline-table’ elements when ‘border-collapse’ is ‘collapse’ but is not required to. In this case not only must the border radii of adjacent corners not intersect, but the horizontal and vertical radii of a single corner may not extend past the boundaries of the cell at that corner (i.e. the cell's other corners must not be affected by this corner's border-radius). If the computed values of the border radii would cause this effect, then the used values of all the border radii of the table must be reduced by the same factor so that the radii neither intersect nor extend past the boundaries of their respective corner cells.

The CSS3 UAs should ignore border-radius properties applied to internal table elements when ‘border-collapse’ is ‘collapse’. The effect of border-radius on internal table elements is undefined in CSS3 Backgrounds and Borders, but may be defined in a future specification.

The UA may reduce or treat as zero the border-radius for a given corner if a scrolling mechanism is present in that corner.

This example draws ovals of 15em wide and 10em high:

DIV.standout {
    width: 13em;
    height: 8em;
    border: solid black 1em;
    border-radius: 7.5em 5em }

This example adds appropriate padding, so that the contents do not overflow the corners. Note that there is no border, but the background will still have rounded corners.

DIV {
    background: black;
    color: white;
    border-radius: 1em;
    padding: 1em }

4.6 The ‘border-break’ property

Name: border-break
Value: close | [ <border-width> || <border-style> || <color> ]
Initial: none
Applies to: elements with a border
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: any <length;> made absolute; any color computed; otherwise as specified

When a box that has a border is broken at a page break, column break, or, for inline elements, at a line break, a border and some padding can be inserted at the break, or the border can be left open.

If the value of ‘border-break’ is ‘close’, then each box is independently wrapped with the border and padding.

If the style is set to ‘none’, no border and no padding are inserted at the break.

Otherwise, padding is added as wide as the corresponding side of the ‘padding’ property and a border is added with the specified style, width, and color.

Note this means that padding is added if the border style is ‘hidden’, but not if the border style is ‘none’.

Illustration of border-break

Two possibilities for ‘border-break’: on the left, the value ‘none’, on the right the value ‘solid’.

4.7 The ‘border-top’, ‘border-bottom’, ‘border-right’, ‘border-left’, and ‘border’ properties

Name: border-top, border-right, border-bottom, border-left
Value: <border-width> || <border-style> || <color>
Initial: See individual properties
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: see individual properties

This is a shorthand property for setting the width, style, and color of the top, right, bottom, and left border of a box. Omitted values are set to their initial values.

Name: border
Value: <border-width> || <border-style> || <color>
Initial: See individual properties
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: see individual properties

The ‘border’ property is a shorthand property for setting the same width, color, and style for all four borders of a box. Unlike the shorthand ‘margin’ and ‘padding’ properties, the ‘border’ property cannot set different values on the four borders. To do so, one or more of the other border properties must be used.

For example, the first rule below is equivalent to the set of four rules shown after it:

p { border: solid red }
p {
  border-top: solid red;
  border-right: solid red;
  border-bottom: solid red;
  border-left: solid red;
}

Since, to some extent, the properties have overlapping functionality, the order in which the rules are specified is important.

Consider this example:

blockquote {
  border-color: red;
  border-left: double;
  color: black
}

In the above example, the color of the left border is black, while the other borders are red. This is due to ‘border-left’ setting the width, style, and color. Since the color value is not given by the ‘border-left’ property, it will be taken from the ‘color’ property. The fact that the ‘color’ property is set after the ‘border-left’ property is not relevant.

4.8 The ‘box-shadow’ property

Name: box-shadow
Value: none | <shadow> [ , <shadow> ]*
Initial: none
Applies to: all elements
Inherited: no
Percentages: N/A
Media: visual
Computed value: any <length> made absolute; any color computed; otherwise as specified

The ‘box-shadow’ property attaches one or more drop-shadows to the box. The property is a comma-separated list of shadows, each specified by 2-4 length values, an optional color, and an optional ‘inset’ keyword. Omitted lengths are 0, omitted colors are a UA-chosen color.

The type <shadow> stands for:

inset || [ <length> <length> <length>? <length>? || <color> ]

where the first two lengths are required. The components of each <shadow> are interpreted as follows:

An outer box-shadow casts a shadow as if the border-box of the element were opaque. The shadow is drawn outside the border edge only: it is not drawn inside the border-box of the element.

An inner box-shadow casts a shadow as if everything outside the padding edge were opaque. The inner shadow is drawn inside the padding edge only: it is not drawn in outside the padding box of the element.

If the box has a nonzero border-radius, the shadow is rounded in the same way. If an element has multiple boxes, all of them get drop shadows, but shadows are only drawn where borders would also be drawn, see ‘border-break’.

The shadow effects are applied front-to-back: the first shadow is on top and the others are layered behind. Shadows do not influence layout and may overlap other boxes or their shadows. In terms of stacking contexts and the painting order, the outer shadows of an element are drawn immediately below the background of that element, and the inner shadows of an element are drawn immediately above the background of that element (below the borders and border-image, if any).

Here is an example of single words with a drop shadow. Assume the words were enclosed in <span> and the style rule was

span {border: thin solid; box-shadow: 0.2em 0.2em #CCC}

The result might look like this:

He will be put on b_r_e_a_d_| and w_a_t_e_r_|

5. Definitions

5.1 Profiles

(NOTE: Check profiles because of changes made!)

CSS1 Profile:

CSS2 Profile:

Mobile and TV Profiles (informative, see their specifications):

CSS3 Profile:

5.2 Conformance

A UA conforms to this module if it satisfies the rules given next. However, it is recommended that UAs try to conform to one of the levels (1, 2 or 3) or profiles ([CSS-MOBILE], [CSS-PRINT], etc.) of CSS, rather than to individual modules.

A UA that renders documents must interpret CSS style sheets according to the generic CSS grammar [CSS3SYN] and the individual grammars of each property in this module, it must understand at least type selectors [SELECT], it must apply the rules of cascading and inheritance [CSS3CASCADE], and it must render documents as defined for each property in this module.

A UA that writes style sheets, must write syntactically correct style sheets, according to the generic CSS grammar [CSS3SYN] and the individual grammars of each property in this module.

The inability of a UA to correctly render a document due to limitations of the device does not make the UA non-conformant. (For example, a UA cannot render color on a monochrome monitor.)

5.3 Glossary

The following terms and abbreviations are used in this module.

UA
User Agent

A program that reads and/or writes CSS style sheets on behalf of a user in either or both of these categories: programs whose purpose is to render documents (e.g., browsers) and programs whose purpose is to create style sheets (e.g., editors). A UA may fall into both categories. (There are other programs that read or write style sheets, but this module gives no rules for them.)

document
source document

A tree-structured document with elements and attributes, such as an SGML or XML document [XML11].

HTML document

A document that has the MIME type text/html [RFC2854] and conforms to that type.

XHTML document

A document that has the MIME type text/xhtml+xml or application/xhtml+xml [RFC3236] and conforms to either type.

style sheet

A document conforming to the generic CSS grammar [CSS3SYN].

5.4 CR exit criteria

As described in the W3C process document, a Candidate Recommendation (CR) is a specification that W3C recommends for use on the Web. The next stage is “Recommendation,” when the specification is sufficiently implemented.

For this specification to be proposed as a W3C Recommendation, the following conditions shall be met:

  1. There must be at least two interoperable implementations for every feature in the Module. For the purposes of this criterion, we define the following terms:

    feature

    a section or subsection of the specification

    interoperable

    passing the respective test case(s) in the CSS test suite, or, if the implementation is not a web browser, an equivalent test. Every relevant test in the test suite should have an equivalent test created if such a UA is to be used to claim interoperability. In addition if such a UA is to be used to claim interoperability, then there must one or more additional UAs which can also pass those equivalent tests in the same way for the purpose of interoperability. The equivalent tests must be made publicly available for the purposes of peer review.

    implementation

    a user agent which:

    1. implements the feature.
    2. is available (i.e. publicly downloadable or available through some other public point of sale mechanism). This is the "show me" requirement.
    3. is shipping (i.e. development, private or unofficial versions are insufficient).
    4. is not experimental (i.e. is intended for a wide audience and could be used on a daily basis.)
  2. A minimum of sixth months of the CR period must have elapsed. This is to ensure that enough time is given for any remaining major errors to be caught.

  3. Features will be dropped if two or more interoperable implementations are not found by the end of the CR period.

  4. Features may/will also be dropped if adequate/sufficient (by judgment of CSS WG) tests have not been produced for those feature(s) by the end of the CR period.

6. Acknowledgments

Tapas Roy was editor of the Border Module, before it was merged with the Background Module.

A set of properties for border images was initially proposed by fantasai. The current simplification (one image cut into nine parts) is due to Ian Hickson. (Though the original idea seems to originate with some anonymous Microsoft engineers.)

Thanks to Ben Stucki for defining what happens with rounded corners if the two adjoining borders are of unequal thickness or one of them is zero; to Arjan Eising and Anne van Kesteren for the ‘border-radius’ syntax.

Emrah Baskaya and Simon Pieters were among the people who argued for a fallback color (see ‘backgound-color’), which is only shown when any specified image(s) cannot be loaded.

Finally, special thanks go to Brad Kemper for his feedback and suggestions for many of the features in the draft.

7. References

Normative references

[CSS21]
Bert Bos; et al. Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification. 19 July 2007. W3C Candidate Recommendation. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/CR-CSS21-20070719
[CSS3CASCADE]
Håkon Wium Lie. CSS3 module: Cascading and inheritance. 15 December 2005. W3C Working Draft. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-css3-cascade-20051215
[CSS3COLOR]
Tantek Çelik; Chris Lilley. CSS3 Color Module. 14 May 2003. W3C Candidate Recommendation. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/CR-css3-color-20030514
[CSS3SYN]
L. David Baron. CSS3 module: Syntax. 13 August 2003. W3C Working Draft. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-css3-syntax-20030813
[SELECT]
Daniel Glazman; Tantek Çelik; Ian Hickson. Selectors. 15 December 2005. W3C Working Draft. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-css3-selectors-20051215

Other references

[CSS-MOBILE]
Svante Schubert. CSS Mobile Profile 2.0. 19 October 2007. W3C Working Draft. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-css-mobile-20071019
[CSS-PRINT]
Melinda Grant. CSS Print Profile. 13 October 2006. W3C Working Draft. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-css-print-20061013
[CSS1]
Håkon Wium Lie; Bert Bos. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS1) Level 1 Specification. 17 December 1996. W3C Recommendation. Revised 11 January 1999. URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-CSS1-19990111
[CSS3TBL]
Bert Bos; David Hyatt. CSS3 Tables Module. (forthcoming). W3C Working Draft. (Work in progress.)
[CSS3VAL]
Håkon Wium Lie; Chris Lilley. CSS3 Values and Units. 19 September 2006. W3C Working Draft. (Work in progress.) URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-css3-values-20060919
[RFC2854]
D. Connolly; L. Masinter. The 'text/html' Media Type. June 2000. Internet RFC 2854. URL: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2854.txt
[RFC3236]
P. Stark; M. Baker. The 'application/xhtml+xml' Media Type. January 2002. Internet RFC 3236. URL: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3236.txt
[XML11]
Tim Bray; et al. Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.1 (Second Edition). 4 February 2004. W3C Recommendation. Revised 29 September 2006 URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml11-20060816

Property index

Property Values Initial Applies to Inh. Percentages Media
background [ <bg-layer> , ]* <final-bg-layer> see individual properties all elements no see individual properties visual
background-attachment scroll | fixed | local [, scroll | fixed | local]* scroll all elements no N/A visual
background-break bounding-box | each-box | continuous continuous all elements no N/A visual
background-clip [border-box | padding-box | content-box | no-clip] [ , [border-box | padding-box | content-box | no-clip] ]* border-box all elements no N/A visual
background-color <color> [ / <color> ]? | / <color> transparent all elements no N/A visual
background-image [ <image> | none ] [ , [ <image> | none ] ]* none all elements no N/A visual
background-origin [border-box | padding-box | content-box] [, [border-box | padding-box | content-box]]* padding-box all elements no N/A visual
background-position <bg-position> [ , <bg-position> ]* 0% 0% all elements no refer to size of background positioning area minus size of background image; see text visual
background-repeat <repeat> [ , <repeat> ]* repeat all elements no N/A visual
background-size [ [ <length> | <percentage> | auto ]{1,2} | cover | contain ] [ [ , [ <length> | <percentage> | auto ]{1,2} ] | cover | contain ]* auto all elements no see text visual
border <border-width> || <border-style> || <color> See individual properties all elements no N/A visual
border-break close | [ <border-width> || <border-style> || <color> ] none elements with a border no N/A visual
border-color <color>{1,4} (see individual properties) all elements no N/A visual
border-image none | <image> [ <number> | <percentage>]{1,4} [ / <border-width>{1,4} ]? [ stretch | repeat | round ]{0,2} none All elements, except table elements when ‘border-collapse’ is ‘collapse’ no N/A visual
border-radius <length>{1,4} [ / <length>{1,4} ]? 0 all elements, except table element when ‘border-collapse’ is ‘collapse’ no N/A visual
border-style <border-style>{1,4} (see individual properties) all elements no N/A visual
border-top, border-right, border-bottom, border-left <border-width> || <border-style> || <color> See individual properties all elements no N/A visual
border-top-color , border-right-color, border-bottom-color, border-left-color <color> currentcolor all elements no N/A visual
border-top-right-radius, border-bottom-right-radius, border-bottom-left-radius, border-top-left-radius <length> <length>? 0 all elements (but see prose) no N/A visual
border-top-style, border-right-style, border-bottom-style, border-left-style <border-style> none all elements no N/A visual
border-top-width, border-right-width, border-bottom-width, border-left-width <border-width> medium all elements no width* of containing block visual
border-width <border-width>{1,4} (see individual properties) all elements no see individual properties visual
box-shadow none | <shadow> [ , <shadow> ]* none all elements no N/A visual

Index