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I know that this can easily be done in any image editing program, I was just curious if there was a way just using css.

Example:

body {background-color: #837960; background-image: url("Images/background.jpg") background-repeat: no-repeat;}

Could you use css to fade the background image into the background color so a visible line does not exist or should I keep adding a gradient to transparency in Photoshop?

Chris569x
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  • I don't know if that's possible even though I think it might be supported in CSS3. I'm just commenting to point out that whatever way there is to do it, for compatibility you probably want to do this in the image itself after all. – reinder Apr 04 '13 at 14:42
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    possible duplicate of [Can you overlay a transparent css3 gradient over a background image?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8049276/can-you-overlay-a-transparent-css3-gradient-over-a-background-image) – MarcinJuraszek Apr 04 '13 at 14:43
  • CSS3 is the way. But compatibility issues suck. – emerson.marini Apr 04 '13 at 14:45
  • MarcinJuraszek - Just the opposite of that. I want a solid background color, and an image that will have a css generated gradient to transparency at the bottom portion. – Chris569x Apr 04 '13 at 14:46
  • @Chris569x So change gradient steps colors to start from your background color and end on 100% transparency and it's gonna work. – MarcinJuraszek Apr 04 '13 at 14:49
  • If you need a non-CSS3 solution for better compatibility, you can create a gradient png with transparency that overlays the background image and is positioned at the bottom of the background image. This is assuming the background color is always the same. For example to fade to black, the gradient would be transparent->black. – Samutz Apr 04 '13 at 15:02
  • When you say you want a background color to show, do you mean the `background-color` of that element, of the color of the parent element? – Flimm Jul 27 '18 at 13:40

4 Answers4

12

It is possible - in CSS3 you can set multiple values for background

body {
    background: #837960 url("https://i.stack.imgur.com/MUsp6.jpg") 0 0 no-repeat;

    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%, rgba(130,91,0,1) 100%);   /* FF3.6+ */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(255,255,255,0)), color-stop(100%,rgba(130,91,0,1))); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(130,91,0,1) 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
    background: -o-linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(130,91,0,1) 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(130,91,0,1) 100%); /* IE10+ */
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(130,91,0,1) 100%); /* W3C */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#00ffffff', endColorstr='#825b00',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
}

However, it will work only in modern browser that supports CSS3

(code generated via http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/)

Flimm
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Lemur
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  • Cool, thanks for satisfying my curiosity! It's a good solution, but there are too many compatibility issues unfortunately. Oh well, it only takes a few seconds to change the image. – Chris569x Apr 04 '13 at 14:53
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    Actually @Chris569x I think this solution covers any compatibility issues you might face. It is a lot of words, but it is all the same thing. With a decent editor, even notepad++, you can line up the values and select them in a column and change them all at the same time. If you want to take advantage of CSS3 you will have to deal with the browser prefixes until 2022 when CSS3 is official. You can cut out a few of those if you feel there are too many. Remember, user experience does NOT need to be identical, especially if it is just aesthetics. – BillyNair Jun 13 '13 at 03:55
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    This code is not going to work. You must set multiple values with comma in the same background property, like this: `background:url("images/img.jpg"), linear-gradient(to top, red, green)`. – certainlyakey Mar 28 '16 at 13:42
  • @certainlyakey is correct, this code does not work. I made it a code snippet, you can easily try for yourself. I'm surprised I seem to have given this answer the first downvote. – Flimm Jul 27 '18 at 13:31
8

Yes it's possible with CSS using the linear-gradient() function with multiple background images:

body {
  background-color: #837960;
  background-image: linear-gradient(
    to bottom, transparent, #837960
  ), url("Images/background.jpg");
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

Specify the gradient as the first image so it gets stacked on top, and use it to fade from transparent at the top to the opaque background-color at the bottom. This will give the illusion the image underneath is fading into the background without requiring alpha-transparency on the image itself.

vhs
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2

Ideally, you should just edit the image so as to have a consistent look across browsers.

While you can have a background gradient, that would appear behind an image, as the background images are placed over background color. In order to have the image look like it is fading into another color, you would need to place another tag on top of that the body such as:

body { background: url('https://i.stack.imgur.com/MUsp6.jpg') }
div.content { 
    width: 100%; 
    height: 100%; 
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%, rgba(255,255,255,1) 100%); /* FF3.6+ */
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(255,255,255,0)), color-stop(100%,rgba(255,255,255,1))); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(255,255,255,1) 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */
    background: -o-linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(255,255,255,1) 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(255,255,255,1) 100%); /* IE10+ */
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,rgba(255,255,255,1) 100%); /* W3C */
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#00ffffff', endColorstr='#ffffff',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */
}
<body>
    <div class="content">Example</div>
</body>

Or whatever color/positioning combination you would like. A good resource is http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/

Flimm
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Elizabeth Fuller
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  • +1 This was what I was looking to do. I'd recommend using `html` and `body` instead of adding another div though. – powerbuoy Sep 25 '14 at 00:21
  • I don't think this answer works. I converted it to a code snippet, run it and see for yourself. – Flimm Jul 27 '18 at 13:35
0

Answer: Use the mask-image CSS property for complete control of an element's transparency, as in:

-webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, black 50%, transparent 70%);

html {
  /* Needed for the SO Code Snippet */
  height: 100%;
}

body {
  background-color: #837960;
}

body::after {
  /* The answer */
  -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, black 50%, transparent 70%);
  
  /* Extra CSS */
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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);
}

A couple notes:

  • mask-image isn't 100% supported across browsers, so, as seen in the example, you'll use the -webkit-mask-image version for Chrome.
  • mask-image applies to the content of the element, which can be confusing to work with when applied to the <html> and <body> tags (hence I've had to apply extra CSS in the example).
Design.Garden
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