CSS Borders
CSS Border Properties
The CSS border properties allow you to specify the style, width, and color of an element's border.
Border Style
The border-style property specifies what kind of border to display.
The following values are allowed:
dotted- Defines a dotted borderdashed- Defines a dashed bordersolid- Defines a solid borderdouble- Defines a double bordergroove- Defines a 3D grooved border. The effect depends on the border-color valueridge- Defines a 3D ridged border. The effect depends on the border-color valueinset- Defines a 3D inset border. The effect depends on the border-color valueoutset- Defines a 3D outset border. The effect depends on the border-color valuenone- Defines no borderhidden- Defines a hidden border
The border-style property can have from one to four values (for
the top border, right border, bottom border, and the left border).
Example
p.dotted {border-style: dotted;}
p.dashed
{border-style: dashed;}
p.solid {border-style: solid;}
p.double
{border-style: double;}
p.groove {border-style: groove;}
p.ridge
{border-style: ridge;}
p.inset {border-style: inset;}
p.outset
{border-style: outset;}
p.none {border-style: none;}
p.hidden {border-style: hidden;}
p.mix {border-style: dotted dashed solid double;}Result:
A dotted border.
A dashed border.
A solid border.
A double border.
A groove border. The effect depends on the border-color value.
A ridge border. The effect depends on the border-color value.
An inset border. The effect depends on the border-color value.
An outset border. The effect depends on the border-color value.
No border.
A mixed border.
Note: None of the OTHER CSS border properties described below will have ANY effect unless the
border-style property is set!
Border Width
The border-width property specifies the width of the four borders.
The width can be set as a specific size (in px, pt, cm, em, etc) or by using one of the three pre-defined values: thin, medium, or thick.
The border-width property can have from one to four values (for
the top border, right border, bottom border, and the left border).
Example
p.one
{
border-style: solid;
border-width: 5px;
}
p.two
{
border-style: solid;
border-width: medium;
}
p.three
{
border-style: solid;
border-width: 2px 10px 4px 20px;
}
Border Color
The border-color property is used to set the color of the four borders.
The color can be set by:
- name - specify a color name, like "red"
- Hex - specify a hex value, like "#ff0000"
- RGB - specify a RGB value, like "rgb(255,0,0)"
- transparent
The border-color property can have from one to four values (for
the top border, right border, bottom border, and the left border).
If border-color is not set, it inherits the color of the element.
Example
p.one
{
border-style: solid;
border-color: red;
}
p.two
{
border-style: solid;
border-color: green;
}
p.three {
border-style: solid;
border-color: red green blue yellow;
}
Border - Individual Sides
From the examples above you have seen that it is possible to specify a different border for each side.
In CSS, there are also properties for specifying each of the borders (top, right, bottom, and left):
Example
p
{
border-top-style: dotted;
border-right-style: solid;
border-bottom-style: dotted;
border-left-style: solid;
}
The example above gives the same result as this:
Example
p {
border-style: dotted solid;
}So, here is how it works:
If the border-style property has four values:
- border-style: dotted solid double dashed;
- top border is dotted
- right border is solid
- bottom border is double
- left border is dashed
If the border-style property has three values:
- border-style: dotted solid double;
- top border is dotted
- right and left borders are solid
- bottom border is double
If the border-style property has two values:
- border-style: dotted solid;
- top and bottom borders are dotted
- right and left borders are solid
If the border-style property has one value:
- border-style: dotted;
- all four borders are dotted
The border-style property is used in the example above. However, it also works with
border-width
and border-color.
Border - Shorthand Property
As you can see from the examples above, there are many properties to consider when dealing with borders.
To shorten the code, it is also possible to specify all the individual border properties in one property.
The border property is a shorthand property for the following individual border properties:
border-widthborder-style(required)border-color
Example
p {
border: 5px solid red;
}
Result:
Some text
You can also specify all the individual border properties for just one side:
Left Border
p {
border-left: 6px solid red;
background-color: lightgrey;
}
Result:
Some text
Bottom Border
p {
border-bottom: 6px solid red;
background-color: lightgrey;
}
Result:
Some text
Rounded Borders
The border-radius property is used to add rounded borders to an element:
Normal border
Round border
Rounder border
Roundest border
Example
p {
border: 2px solid red;
border-radius: 5px;
}
Note: The border-radius property is not supported in IE8 and earlier versions.