Css – have multiple background images using CSS

background-imagecss

Is it possible to have two background images? For instance, I'd like to have one image repeat across the top (repeat-x), and another repeat across the entire page (repeat), where the one across the entire page is behind the one which repeats across the top.

I've found that I can achieve the desired effect for two background images by setting the background of html and body:

html {
    background: url(images/bg.png);
}

body {
    background: url(images/bgtop.png) repeat-x;
}

Is this "good" CSS? Is there a better method? And what if I wanted three or more background images?

Best Answer

CSS3 allows this sort of thing and it looks like this:

body {
    background-image: url(images/bgtop.png), url(images/bg.png);
    background-repeat: repeat-x, repeat;
}

The current versions of all the major browsers now support it, however if you need to support IE8 or below, then the best way you can work around it is to have extra divs:

<body>
    <div id="bgTopDiv">
        content here
    </div>
</body>

body{
    background-image: url(images/bg.png);
}
#bgTopDiv{
    background-image: url(images/bgTop.png);
    background-repeat: repeat-x;
}

2015 update: the flexbox approach

There are two other answers briefly mentioning flexbox; however, that was more than two years ago, and they don't provide any examples. The specification for flexbox has definitely settled now.

Note: Though CSS Flexible Boxes Layout specification is at the Candidate Recommendation stage, not all browsers have implemented it. WebKit implementation must be prefixed with -webkit-; Internet Explorer implements an old version of the spec, prefixed with -ms-; Opera 12.10 implements the latest version of the spec, unprefixed. See the compatibility table on each property for an up-to-date compatibility status.

(taken from https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/CSS/Flexible_boxes)

All major browsers and IE11+ support Flexbox. For IE 10 or older, you can use the FlexieJS shim.

To check current support you can also see here: http://caniuse.com/#feat=flexbox

Working example

With flexbox you can easily switch between any of your rows or columns either having fixed dimensions, content-sized dimensions or remaining-space dimensions. In my example I have set the header to snap to its content (as per the OPs question), I've added a footer to show how to add a fixed-height region and then set the content area to fill up the remaining space.

html,
body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
}

.box {
  display: flex;
  flex-flow: column;
  height: 100%;
}

.box .row {
  border: 1px dotted grey;
}

.box .row.header {
  flex: 0 1 auto;
  /* The above is shorthand for:
  flex-grow: 0,
  flex-shrink: 1,
  flex-basis: auto
  */
}

.box .row.content {
  flex: 1 1 auto;
}

.box .row.footer {
  flex: 0 1 40px;
}

<!-- Obviously, you could use HTML5 tags like `header`, `footer` and `section` -->

<div class="box">
  <div class="row header">
    <p><b>header</b>
      <br />
      <br />(sized to content)</p>
  </div>
  <div class="row content">
    <p>
      <b>content</b>
      (fills remaining space)
    </p>
  </div>
  <div class="row footer">
    <p><b>footer</b> (fixed height)</p>
  </div>
</div>

In the CSS above, the flex property shorthands the flex-grow, flex-shrink, and flex-basis properties to establish the flexibility of the flex items. Mozilla has a good introduction to the flexible boxes model.

CSS 100% height with padding/margin

I learned how to do these sort of things reading "PRO HTML and CSS Design Patterns". The display:block is the default display value for the div, but I like to make it explicit. The container has to be the right type; position attribute is fixed, relative, or absolute.

.stretchedToMargin {
  display: block;
  position:absolute;
  height:auto;
  bottom:0;
  top:0;
  left:0;
  right:0;
  margin-top:20px;
  margin-bottom:20px;
  margin-right:80px;
  margin-left:80px;
  background-color: green;
}

<div class="stretchedToMargin">
  Hello, world
</div>

Fiddle by Nooshu's comment

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Html – Make a div fill the height of the remaining screen space

2015 update: the flexbox approach

Working example

CSS 100% height with padding/margin

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