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outline text in css

Code snippet for how to outline text in css with sample and detail explanation

Outline Text in CSS

In modern web design, being able to style text effectively is invaluable. In this article, we are going to explore how to create an outline text effect using CSS, a style that can be quite visually striking.

Code Snippet for Outline Text in CSS

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, allows developers to control how HTML elements are displayed on the screen. So, let’s dive into the code to outline text.

h1 {
  color: white;
  text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 -1px black, 1px 0 black, 0 1px black;  
}

In this CSS code snippet, we are adding a text-shadow to create an outline text effect to all HTML h1 elements.

Code Explanation for Outline Text in CSS

Let’s break down the above code snippet and understand how it works.

color: white;

This property is pretty straightforward; it sets the text color to white.

text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 -1px black, 1px 0 black, 0 1px black;

The text-shadow property is where all the magic happens. It applies a shadow to the text, which in our case, will be our outline. It accepts four values, but we are using four text-shadow properties each with two values:

  • -1px 0 black adds a black shadow of 1 pixel to the left of the text.
  • 0 -1px black adds a black shadow of one pixel above the text.
  • 1px 0 black adds a black shadow of one pixel to the right of the text.
  • 0 1px black adds a black shadow of one pixel below the text.

Combined, these shadows create a full outline around the text. By changing the color values of these shadows, you can alter the color of the text outline.

And that completes our simple walkthrough of outlined text in CSS! Feel free to experiment with different colors and sizes to create more dynamic outline text effects. Remember, mastering these techniques provides you with more tools to make your web pages visually engaging and unique.

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