Introduction to CSS Padding Color
There are many features in CSS that can be achieved, using properties directly linked to them. Some of these features including setting the font style, color of the background, deciding the size of the text to be displayed, what happens when we hover over some element. However, there are many features that are not directly achievable. One such feature is the color of the padding. There is no parameter in the padding property to define the color for the padding. So we make use of the background-clip, to obtain that particular effect on a page. Let us have a look at how this feature works.
How to Obtain Padding Color?
As discussed in the introduction, using background-flip property helps us restrict or extend the limit to which the particular background needs to be applied for an element. If offers three specific parameters: content-box, padding-box, border-box.
The syntax for it is as follows:
background-clip: padding-box (or content-box or border-box)
When we define the background-clip to be limited to the padding-box, it extends the background to the inner edge of the border. The background is not applied to the border here. And this is how we achieve padding color, by using a different property.
How does Padding Color work?
Let us take a look at a few examples to see how this process works:
1. Padding color using background-clip using External CSS
- Since we are using external CSS for this example, we will start by creating a CSS file first.
- In the CSS file, we will create a class, where we will specify the background-clip to be limited to the padding-box. Along with this, we will specify other properties for the class.
Code:
.padding{
background-color: lightgreen;
padding: 50px;
background-clip: padding-box;
height: 200px;
width: 200px;
border: dotted darkred;
font-size: 15px;
font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
}
- Now, that the CSS code is done, we will move on to the HTML file. In the header section, we will call for the external CSS file first.
<head>
<title>Padding color using CSS</title>
<link rel = "stylesheet" href = "padding.css">
</head>
- Now, in the body section, we will code for a paragraph element, calling the class created in the CSS file, such that the style and padding color can be demonstrated.
- The final HTML code should look like the code snippet below:
Code
<html>
<head>
<title>Padding color using CSS</title>
<link rel = "stylesheet" href = "padding.css">
</head>
<body>
<h2>Padding Color Demonstration</h2>
<p class="padding">This paragraph demonstrates background-clip for padding-box. Using this property, limits the background effect to the inside edge of the borders.</p>
</body>
</html>
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Output: Once this code is saved, and the HTML file is opened through a browser, you will be able to see the following output:
- You can see, that the background color is limited to the inside of the borders. This is a way to achieve padding color through CSS.
2. Using background-clip for content-box and padding-box, to demonstrate the difference, through external CSS.
- Like the previous example, this example also involves external CSS, so we will create the CSS file first.
- In the CSS file, we will define two different classes, with the background-clip property set for padding-box and content-box respectively. The idea is to understand how these two are different from each other.
Code:
.content{
background-color: lightblue;
padding: 20px;
font-size: 15px;
height: 200px;
width: 200px;
border: dashed pink;
background-clip: content-box;
}
.padding{
background-color: lightgreen;
padding: 50px;
background-clip: padding-box;
height: 200px;
width: 200px;
border: dotted darkred;
font-size: 15px;
font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
}
- As a next step, we will code for the HTML file. Now, since we are using external CSS we will call for the CSS file in the head section, like this:
Code:
<head>
<title>Padding color using CSS</title>
<link rel = "stylesheet" href = "padding.css">
</head>
- In the body section, we will use the paragraph element twice, such that both classes that we have styled, shall be included. The final HTML code should look like this:
Code:
<html>
<head>
<title>Padding color using CSS</title>
<link rel = "stylesheet" href = "padding.css">
</head>
<body>
<h2>Padding Color Demonstration</h2>
<p class="padding">This paragraph demonstrates background-clip for padding-box. Using this property, limits the background effect to the inside edge of the borders.</p>
<p class="content">This paragraph demonstrates background-clip for content-box. Using this property, limits the background effect to the content edges.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output: The output of the above code can be seen by saving this html file and opening it through a browser. It will look like this:
- You can clearly see that when we use padding-box in background-clip, it stretches to the border edges, but in the case of content-box, it is limited to the content.
3. Padding color using background-clip, through Internal CSS
- Since we are using internal CSS, we will directly code for the HTML file.
- In the head section, we will style the element <p> within the <style> tag. Here only, we will define the background-clip to be limited to the padding-box. The styling can be as follows:
Code:
<style>
p{
font-size: 15px;
height: 200px;
width: 200px;
padding: 15px;
border: dotted black;
background-color: yellow;
color: blueviolet;
background-clip: padding-box;
font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
- Once the styling is done, we will move on to the body part and code for paragraph element <p>, such that defined style can be demonstrated.
- The final HTML file should be coded for, as below:
Code:
<html>
<head>
<title>Padding color using Internal CSS</title>
<style>
p{
font-size: 15px;
height: 200px;
width: 200px;
padding: 15px;
border: dotted black;
background-color: yellow;
color: blueviolet;
background-clip: padding-box;
font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Padding Color Demo using internal CSS</h2>
<p>This example demonstrates padding color using internal CSS.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output: The same code when saved as an HTML file, and opened through a browser, will give the following output:
- Hence, in the above few examples, we learned how to obtain colored padding for any element. This can be used to a developer’s advantage while styling for a particular requirement.
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