can't change body background color using CSS reset

Question

Here is my HTML code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Hover Zoom</title>
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://yui.yahooapis.com/3.3.0/build/cssreset/reset-min.css">
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
        <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" >
    </head>
    <body>

    </body>
</html>

Here is my CSS file code (style.css):

body {
    background-color: #FF0000;
}

but the background color of body does not change.

Without the CSS reset, it works fine. Can you suggest me a better CSS reset, or any other solution?

@Sotiris, @waitinforatrain: Just visit the link yourselves and see: http://yui.yahooapis.com/3.3.0/build/cssreset/reset-min.css — BoltClock, Jul 12 '11 at 22:16
@BoltClock I just focused in the style.css rule and commented. My overlooking — Sotiris, Jul 12 '11 at 22:20
@BoltClock: `html{background:#FFF;}` [strikes again!](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6563189/css-background-and-body-height-100/6563353#6563353) — thirtydot, Jul 12 '11 at 22:23

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 12 '11 at 22:15

14

change your selector to

html, body{
    background-color: #FF0000;
}

answered Jul 12 '11 at 22:15

brenjt

15,997
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4

What YUI actually wants you to do is set the `background` on only `html` - you don't need to also set it on `body`. – thirtydot Jul 12 '11 at 23:13

Devin Burke · Answer 2 · 2011-07-12T23:01:46.620

6

brenjt's answer is correct, but I'll provide an explanation for what is wrong and why that solution works:

Your CSS reset file sets the background color of html which is the entire page. You are only setting the body's background color, but your body is extremely small in height since you have no content. Consequentially, you do not see the body's background color.

Just set both the html and body in CSS like this:

html, body { background-color: #FF0000; }

EDIT:

Had you not set the html background color, then body's background color would represent the whole page. But since you are using an external source's CSS reset, you do not have the option of not setting the html properties.

edited Jul 12 '11 at 23:01

answered Jul 12 '11 at 22:21

Devin Burke

13,642
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Your answer isn't fully correct. Setting just the `body` background [works fine](http://jsfiddle.net/zvD2U/), provided one isn't set for `html`. The relevant explanation is here: http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css3-background/#special-backgrounds – thirtydot Jul 12 '11 at 22:39
@thirtydot: You are correct, I missed that point. I updated my answer accordingly. – Devin Burke Jul 12 '11 at 23:02

can't change body background color using CSS reset

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