CODEWITHSUNDEEP
htmlcss
brentmc79
brentmc79

Reputation: 2541

How do I apply box shadow to adjacent elements without the appearance of overlapping?

Given this html:

<div id="admin_login">
  <form>
    <input type="text"/>
    <input type="text"/>
  </form>
  <a href="#">Login</a>
</div>

And this css:

#admin_login form {
  background: #464950;
  padding: 5px;
  box-shadow: #000 2px 2px 10px;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
  margin-bottom:3px;
}

#admin_login input {
  display: block;
  border: none;
  margin: 6px 4px;
  padding: 4px;
}

#admin_login a {
  color: inherit;
  background: #464950;
  padding: 4px 8px;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
  border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;
  box-shadow: #000 2px 2px 10px;
  text-decoration: none;
}

I get this:

overlapping elements

How can I make the anchor tag and the form appear as one element, instead of overlapping each other?

UPDATE

@TristarWebDesign's solution worked perfectly:

enter image description here

Upvotes: 6

Views: 10329

Answers (4)

tomekwi
tomekwi

Reputation: 2158

A bit late to the party – but I’ve just stumbled upon a very elegant solution to this problem. You can define the box-shadow properties not on the elements themselves, but on pseudo elements like ::after. Like this:

#admin_login form::after,
#admin_login a::after {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  right: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  left: 0;
  z-index: -1;  /* This makes sure the shadow is behind other stuff. */
}

#admin_login form {
  background: #464950;
  padding: 5px;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
  margin-bottom: 3px;
  position: relative;
}
#admin_login form::after {
  box-shadow: #000 2px 2px 10px;
}


#admin_login input {
  display: block;
  border: none;
  margin: 6px 4px;
  padding: 4px;
}

#admin_login a {
  color: inherit;
  background: #464950;
  padding: 4px 8px;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
  border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;
  text-decoration: none;
  position: relative;
}
#admin_login a::after {
  box-shadow: #000 2px 2px 10px;
}

The idea comes from a blog post by Michał Dudak.

Upvotes: 1

methodofaction
methodofaction

Reputation: 72395

The best solution I've found for this problem is just covering the shadow with a pseudo element...

#admin_login a:after {
  /*make  #admin_login a position relative*/
  content: '';
  position: absolute;
  top: -10px;
  left: 0;
  height: 10px;
  background: #464950;
  width: 120%;
}

Browsers that support box shadow also support :after, so you're in the clear.

Here is a working example: http://jsfiddle.net/pWD2S/

Upvotes: 4

Tristar Web Design
Tristar Web Design

Reputation: 765

Try something like this -

HTML

<div id="admin_login">
  <form>
    <input type="text"/>
    <input type="text"/>
  </form>
  <div class="login-btn"><a href="#">Login</a></div>
</div>

CSS

#admin_login form {
  background: #464950;
  padding: 5px;
  box-shadow: #000 2px 2px 10px;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
  margin-bottom:3px;
}

#admin_login input {
  display: block;
  border: none;
  margin: 6px 4px;
  padding: 4px;
}

#admin_login a {
  color: inherit;
  background: #464950;
  padding: 4px 8px;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
  border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;
  box-shadow: #000 2px 2px 10px;
  text-decoration: none;
}
#admin_login .login-btn {
    height: 30px;
    margin: -3px 0 0 -4px;
    overflow: hidden;
    padding: 0 0 0 4px;
}

Basically just wrapping the link inside a div, setting the div to overflow hidden, and position it in the correct place.

You'll also need to make sure the link is on a layer above the form.

Upvotes: 7

Rory McCrossan
Rory McCrossan

Reputation: 337560

Unfortunately I don't think this is possible. If there was a css property along the lines of box-shadow-top/right/bottom/left then you may have had a chance.

The easiest way to achieve this is to create the background as a transparent PNG including the drop shadow, and apply it as a background to the containing div.

Upvotes: 1

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