Blog : CSS Border

CSS Border

The CSS border properties define the borders around an element:

CSS Border Properties

The CSS border properties allow you to specify the style and color of an element's border.


Border Style

The border-style property specifies what kind of border to display.

None of the other border properties will have any effect unless border-style is set.

border-style Values

none: Defines no border

dotted: Defines a dotted border

dashed: Defines a dashed border

solid: Defines a solid border

double: Defines two borders. The width of the two borders are the same as the border-width value

groove: Defines a 3D grooved border. The effect depends on the border-color value

ridge: Defines a 3D ridged border. The effect depends on the border-color value

inset: Defines a 3D inset border. The effect depends on the border-color value

outset: Defines a 3D outset border. The effect depends on the border-color value

Try it yourself: Set the style of the border

Border Width

The border-width property is used to set the width of the border.

The width is set in pixels, or by using one of the three pre-defined values: thin, medium, or thick.

Note: The "border-width" property does not work if it is used alone. Use the "border-style" property to set the borders first.

Example

p.one
{
border-style:solid;
border-width:5px;
}
p.two
{
border-style:solid;
border-width:medium;
}


Border Color

The border-color property is used to set the color of the border. The color can be set by:

  • name - specify a color name, like "red"
  • RGB - specify a RGB value, like "rgb(255,0,0)"
  • Hex - specify a hex value, like "#ff0000"

You can also set the border color to "transparent".

Note: The "border-color" property does not work if it is used alone. Use the "border-style" property to set the borders first.

Example

p.one
{
border-style:solid;
border-color:red;
}
p.two
{
border-style:solid;
border-color:#98bf21;
}


Border - Individual sides

In CSS it is possible to specify different borders for different sides:

Example

p
{
border-top-style:dotted;
border-right-style:solid;
border-bottom-style:dotted;
border-left-style:solid;
}

The example above can also be set with a single property:

Example

border-style:dotted solid;

The border-style property can have from one to four values.

  • border-style:dotted solid double dashed;
    • top border is dotted
    • right border is solid
    • bottom border is double
    • left border is dashed
  • border-style:dotted solid double;
    • top border is dotted
    • right and left borders are solid
    • bottom border is double
  • border-style:dotted solid;
    • top and bottom borders are dotted
    • right and left borders are solid
  • 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 border properties in one property. This is called a shorthand property.

The shorthand property for the border properties is "border":

Example

border:5px solid red;

When using the border property, the order of the values are:

  • border-width
  • border-style
  • border-color

It does not matter if one of the values above are missing (although, border-style is required), as long as the rest are in the specified order.

More Examples

All the top border properties in one declaration
This example demonstrates a shorthand property for setting all of the properties for the top border in one declaration.

Set the style of the bottom border
This example demonstrates how to set the style of the bottom border.

Set the width of the left border
This example demonstrates how to set the width of the left border.

Set the color of the four borders
This example demonstrates how to set the color of the four borders. It can have from one to four colors.

Set the color of the right border
This example demonstrates how to set the color of the right border.

All CSS Border Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property Description Values CSS
border Sets all the border properties in one declaration border-width
border-style
border-color		 1
border-bottom Sets all the bottom border properties in one declaration border-bottom-width
border-bottom-style
border-bottom-color		 1
border-bottom-color Sets the color of the bottom border border-color 2
border-bottom-style Sets the style of the bottom border border-style 2
border-bottom-width Sets the width of the bottom border border-width 1
border-color Sets the color of the four borders color_name
hex_number
rgb_numbertransparent
inherit		 1
border-left Sets all the left border properties in one declaration border-left-width
border-left-style
border-left-color		 1
border-left-color Sets the color of the left border border-color 2
border-left-style Sets the style of the left border border-style 2
border-left-width Sets the width of the left border border-width 1
border-right Sets all the right border properties in one declaration border-right-width
border-right-style
border-right-color		 1
border-right-color Sets the color of the right border border-color 2
border-right-style Sets the style of the right border border-style 2
border-right-width Sets the width of the right border border-width 1
border-style Sets the style of the four borders none
hidden
dotted
dashed
solid
double
groove
ridge
inset
outset
inherit		 1
border-top Sets all the top border properties in one declaration border-top-width
border-top-style
border-top-color		 1
border-top-color Sets the color of the top border border-color 2
border-top-style Sets the style of the top border border-style 2
border-top-width Sets the width of the top border border-width 1
border-width Sets the width of the four borders thin
medium
thick
lengthinherit		 1