Background Properties
The CSS background properties allow you to control the background color of
an element, set an image as the background, repeat a background image
vertically or horizontally, and position an image on a page.
Browser support: IE: Internet Explorer, F: Firefox, N: Netscape.
W3C: The number in the "W3C" column indicates in which CSS
recommendation the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).
Property
Description
Values
background
A shorthand property
for setting all
background properties
in one declaration
background-color 4
background-image
background-repeat
backgroundattachment
backgroundposition
1 6 1
backgroundattachment
Sets whether a
background image is
fixed or scrolls with
the rest of the page
scroll
fixed
1 6 1
background-color
color-rgb
color-hex
color-name
transparent
1 4 1
url(URL)
none
1 4 1
backgroundposition
top left
top center
top right
center left
center center
center right
bottom left
bottom center
bottom right
x% y%
xpos ypos
1 6 1
IE F N W3C
backgroundrepeat
Sets if/how a
repeat
background image will repeat-x
be repeated
repeat-y
no-repeat
1 4 1
Description
Values
IE F N W3C
color
1 4 1
direction
1 6 2
line-height
normal
number
length
%
1 4 1
letter-spacing
Increase or decrease
the space between
characters
normal
length
1 6 1
text-align
left
right
center
justify
1 4 1
text-decoration
Adds decoration to
text
none
underline
overline
line-through
blink
1 4 1
text-indent
length
%
1 4 1
text-shadow
text-transform
none
color
length
Controls the letters in none
an element
capitalize
uppercase
lowercase
unicode-bidi
1 4 1
normal
embed
bidi-override
white-space
normal
pre
nowrap
1 4 1
word-spacing
Increase or decrease
the space between
words
normal
length
1 6 1
Description
Values
IE F N W3C
font
A shorthand property
for setting all of the
properties for a font in
one declaration
font-style
font-variant
font-weight
font-size/lineheight
font-family
caption
1 4 1
icon
menu
message-box
small-caption
status-bar
font-family
A prioritized list of
font family names
and/or generic family
names for an element
family-name
generic-family
1 4 1
font-size
xx-small
x-small
small
medium
large
x-large
xx-large
smaller
larger
length
%
1 4 1
font-size-adjust
Specifies an aspect
value for an element
that will preserve the
x-height of the firstchoice font
none
number
font-stretch
font-style
normal
italic
oblique
1 4 1
font-variant
Displays text in a
small-caps font or a
normal font
normal
small-caps
1 6 1
font-weight
normal
bold
bolder
lighter
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Description
Values
IE F N W3C
border
1 4 1
border-bottom
A shorthand property
for setting all of the
properties for the
bottom border in one
declaration
border-bottomwidth
border-style
border-color
1 6 1
border-bottomcolor
border-color
1 6 2
border-bottomstyle
border-style
1 6 2
border-bottomwidth
thin
medium
thick
length
1 4 1
border-color
1 6 1
border-left
A shorthand property
for setting all of the
properties for the left
border in one
declaration
border-left-width
border-style
border-color
1 6 1
border-left-color
border-color
1 6 2
border-left-style
border-style
1 6 2
border-left-width
thin
medium
thick
length
1 4 1
border-right
1 6 1
border-right-color
border-color
1 6 2
border-right-style
border-style
1 6 2
thin
medium
thick
length
1 4 1
border-style
1 6 1
border-top
A shorthand property
for setting all of the
properties for the top
border in one
declaration
border-top-width
border-style
border-color
1 6 1
border-top-color
border-color
1 6 2
border-top-style
border-style
1 6 2
border-top-width
thin
medium
1 4 1
thick
length
border-width
A shorthand property
for setting the width of
the four borders in
one declaration, can
have from one to four
values
thin
medium
thick
length
1 4 1
V. Margin Properties
The CSS margin properties define the space around elements. It is possible to
use negative values to overlap content. The top, right, bottom, and left margin
can be changed independently using separate properties. A shorthand margin
property can also be used to change all of the margins at once.
Note: Netscape and IE give the body tag a default margin of 8px. Opera does
not! Instead, Opera applies a default padding of 8px, so if one wants to adjust
the margin for an entire page and have it display correctly in Opera, the body
padding must be set as well!
Browser support: IE: Internet Explorer, F: Firefox, N: Netscape.
W3C: The number in the "W3C" column indicates in which CSS
recommendation the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).
Property
margin
margin-bottom
margin-left
margin-right
Description
Values
A shorthand property margin-top
for setting the margin margin-right
properties in one
margin-bottom
declaration
margin-left
Sets the bottom margin auto
of an element
length
%
Sets the left margin of auto
an element
length
%
Sets the right margin auto
of an element
length
%
IE F N W3C
4 1 4 1
1 4 1
1 4 1
1 4 1
margin-top
1 4 1
padding-bottom
padding-left
padding-right
padding-top
Description
A shorthand property
for setting all of the
padding properties in
one declaration
Sets the bottom
padding of an element
Sets the left padding of
an element
Sets the right padding
of an element
Sets the top padding of
an element
Values
padding-top
padding-right
padding-bottom
padding-left
length
%
length
%
length
%
length
%
IE F N W3C
4 1 4 1
1 4 1
1 4 1
1 4 1
1 4 1
list-style-image
list-style-position
list-style-type
Description
A shorthand property
for setting all of the
properties for a list in
one declaration
Sets an image as the
list-item marker
Sets where the listitem marker is placed
in the list
Sets the type of the
list-item marker
Values
list-style-type
list-style-position
list-style-image
IE F N W3C
4 1 6 1
none
url
inside
outside
1 6 1
1 6 1
none
disc
circle
square
decimal
decimal-leadingzero
lower-roman
upper-roman
lower-alpha
upper-alpha
lower-greek
lower-latin
upper-latin
hebrew
armenian
georgian
cjk-ideographic
hiragana
katakana
1 4 1
hiragana-iroha
katakana-iroha
auto
length
marker-offset
1 7 2
border-spacing
caption-side
empty-cells
table-layout
Description
Sets whether the table
borders are collapsed
into a single border or
detached as in
standard HTML
Sets the distance that
separates cell borders
(only for the "separated
borders" model)
Sets the position of the
table caption
Values
collapse
separate
IE F N W3C
5 1 7 2
length length
5M 1 6 2
top
bottom
left
right
Sets whether or not to show
show empty cells in a hide
table (only for the
"separated borders"
model)
Sets the algorithm
auto
used to display the
fixed
table cells, rows, and
columns
5M 1 6 2
5M 1 6 2
1 6 2