CSS3 button style: use box-shadow to create cool button effects

This article explores two ways to create buttons using CSS3: CSS3 gradient and box-shadow. Although CSS3 gradients are becoming more and more popular in button styles, are easy to configure and can scale with button areas, their browser support is limited (mainly Firefox, Chrome, and Safari), and the syntax is inconsistent among different browsers.

In contrast, using the box-shadow attribute to overlay color layers, just like the painter overlays pigments, you can create picture-free, zoomable, fully configurable smooth buttons. Although this method may seem complicated to layer the box-shadow color at first glance, it is more flexible.

Given that the support of pure CSS3 gradients is not perfect for important UI elements and the lack of flexibility of image-based buttons, it is crucial for web designers to master the way to create buttons using CSS3 gradients and box-shadow properties.

Method 1: box-shadow creates multi-layer effects

Let's start with a basic flat orange button. The following steps will demonstrate step by step how to create a glossy button effect using box-shadow.

Step 1: Add standard shadow

The basic syntax of box-shadow is as follows:

box-shadow: X偏移量 Y偏移量 模糊半徑 顏色

We can overlay multiple shadows, separated by commas. For example:

-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, .20), 0px 0px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, .40);

The first shadow creates a black shadow with 20% transparency, offset by 3 pixels to the lower right, with a blur radius of 6 pixels. The second shadow has no offset, providing a subtle dark glow that makes the button more textured.

Step 2: Add the underlying color

inset keyword can invert the shadows to appear inside the button. We can use it to create the underlying color:

inset 0px 25px 25px #930;

This leaves a soft light orange area in the lower half of the button, simulating the reflection of light on the glass surface.

Step 3: Add highlight color

Add a lighter orange shadow on the top of the button with a smaller blur radius to create a highlight of the hard edge:

inset 0px 20px 2px rgba(240, 150, 69, .5)

Note that the new box-shadow will be superimposed under the previous shadow, so the highlight color needs to be placed in front of the darker color.

Step 4: Adjust the reflection

To make the highlights more natural, a blurred dark orange shadow can be superimposed on the top of the button:

inset 0px 5px 12px #930

Step 5: Add hover status

When the mouse is hovering, the shadow parameters can be adjusted to make the button look more three-dimensional:

-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, .20), 0px 0px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, .40);

Browser compatibility

This method works perfectly in Safari and Chrome. Firefox's CSS syntax is almost the same, just replace -webkit-box-shadow with -moz-box-shadow. Opera and IE9 also support box-shadow, but the -webkit- prefix needs to be removed. Older IE does not support box-shadow.

Summary

While the orange button used in the example may be a bit cheesy, this method of using box-shadow to overlay color layers is very practical and can create a variety of cool button effects. This approach offers better browser compatibility and flexibility compared to CSS3 gradients. I hope this article can provide new ideas for your UI design.

(The renderings of steps 1-5 should be inserted here, but since the picture cannot be inserted directly, please add the picture according to the description. Please replace the picture link with the actual picture link)

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