Summary
The color
property sets the foreground color of an element's text content, and its decorations. It doesn't affect any other characteristic of the element; it should really be called text-color
and would have been named so, save for historical reasons and its appearance in CSS Level 1.
Note that the color value must be a uniform color, which may include a transparency value from CSS3 onwards. It can't be a <gradient>
which is an <image>
in CSS.
Initial value | Varies from one browser to another |
---|---|
Applies to | all elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line . |
Inherited | yes |
Media | visual |
Computed value | If the value is translucent, the computed value will be the rgba() corresponding one. If it isn't, it will be the rgb() corresponding one. The transparent keyword maps to rgba(0,0,0,0) . |
Animatable | yes, as a color |
Canonical order | the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar |
Syntax
/* A CSS Level 1 color */ color: red; /* The only color added in CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) */ color:orange;
/* CSS Level 3 color, sometimes called a SVG or X11 color */ color:antiquewhite;
/* The color 'lime' with the 3-character dash notation */ color: #0f0; /* The color 'lime' with the 6-character dash notation */ color: #00ff00; /* A color using the available functional notations */ color: rgba( 34, 12, 64, 0.3); /* Use the color of this element's direct ancestor */ color: currentcolor; /* Global values */ color: inherit; color: initial; color: unset;
Values
<color>
- Is a
<color>
value giving the color of the textual elements of the element.
Formal syntax
<color>where
<color> = <rgb()> | <rgba()> | <hsl()> | <hsla()> | <hex-color> | <named-color> | currentcolor | <deprecated-system-color>
where
<rgb()> = rgb( <rgb-component>#{3} )
<rgba()> = rgba( <rgb-component>#{3} , <alpha-value> )
<hsl()> = hsl( <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage> )
<hsla()> = hsla( <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage>, <alpha-value> )
<named-color> = <ident>
<deprecated-system-color> = ActiveBorder | ActiveCaption | AppWorkspace | Background | ButtonFace | ButtonHighlight | ButtonShadow | ButtonText | CaptionText | GrayText | Highlight | HighlightText | InactiveBorder | InactiveCaption | InactiveCaptionText | InfoBackground | InfoText | Menu | MenuText | Scrollbar | ThreeDDarkShadow | ThreeDFace | ThreeDHighlight | ThreeDLightShadow | ThreeDShadow | Window | WindowFrame | WindowTextwhere
<rgb-component> = <integer> | <percentage>
<alpha-value> = <number>
<hue> = <number>
Examples
The following are all ways to make the element's text red:
element { color: red; } element { color: #f00; } element { color: #ff0000; } element { color: rgb(255,0,0); } element { color: rgb(100%, 0%, 0%); } element { color: hsl(0, 100%, 50%); } /* 50% translucent */ element { color: rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5); } element { color: hsla(0, 100%, 50%, 0.5); }
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
CSS Transitions The definition of 'color' in that specification. |
Working Draft | Defines color as animatable. |
CSS Color Module Level 3 The definition of 'color' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Deprecated system-colors; added SVG colors; added rgba() , hsl() , hsla() functional notation. |
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'color' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Added the orange color and the system-colors. |
CSS Level 1 The definition of 'color' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | 1.0 | 1.0 (1.7 or earlier) | 3.0 | 3.5 | 1.0 |
Feature | Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Phone | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | 1.0 | 1.0 (1) | 6.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 |
See also
- The
<color>
data type