CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cssbackground-color
Staffan Estberg
Staffan Estberg

Reputation: 7025

CSS: Set a background color which is 50% of the width of the window

Trying to achieve a background on a page that is "split in two"; two colors on opposite sides (seemingly done by setting a default background-color on the body tag, then applying another onto a div that stretches the entire width of the window).

I did come up with a solution but unfortunately the background-size property doesn't work in IE7/8 which is a must for this project -

body {
    background: #fff;
}
#wrapper {
    background: url(1px.png) repeat-y;
    background-size: 50% auto;
    width: 100%;
}

Since it's just about solid colors maybe there is a way using only the regular background-color property?

Upvotes: 254

Views: 807696

Answers (14)

Nadav
Nadav

Reputation: 1819

One way to implement your issue is to add a single line to your div's css:

background-image: linear-gradient(90deg, black 50%, blue 50%);

Here is a demonstration code and more options (horizontal, diagonal, etc.), you can click on "Run code snippet" to see it live.

.abWhiteAndBlack
{
  background-image: linear-gradient(90deg, black 50%, blue 50%);
  height: 300px;
  width: 300px;
  margin-bottom: 80px;
}

.abWhiteAndBlack2
{
  background-image: linear-gradient(180deg, black 50%, blue 50%);
  height: 300px;
  width: 300px;
  margin-bottom: 80px;
}

.abWhiteAndBlack3
{
  background-image: linear-gradient(45deg, black 50%, blue 50%);
  height: 300px;
  width: 300px;
  margin-bottom: 80px;
}
Vertical:

  <div class="abWhiteAndBlack">
  </div>


Horizonal:

  <div class="abWhiteAndBlack2">
    
  </div>


Diagonal:

  <div class="abWhiteAndBlack3">
    
  </div>

Upvotes: 30

Duc Nguyen
Duc Nguyen

Reputation: 588

if you want to use linear-gradient with 50% of height:

background: linear-gradient(to bottom, red 0%, blue 100%) no-repeat;
background-size: calc(100%) calc(50%);
background-position: top;

Upvotes: 5

Arkadiusz Lendzian
Arkadiusz Lendzian

Reputation: 427

The most bullet-proof and semantically correct option would be to use fixed-positioned pseudo-element (::after or ::before). Using this technique do not forget to set z-index to elements inside the container. Also mind, that content:"" rule for pseudo-element is needed, otherwise it won't get rendered.

#container {...}

#content::before {
    content:"";
    background-color: #999;
    height: 100%;
    left: 0px;
    position: fixed;
    top: 0px;    
    width: 50%; 
    z-index: 1;
}


#content * {
  position: relative;
  z-index:2;
}

Live example: https://jsfiddle.net/xraymutation/pwz7t6we/16/

Upvotes: 4

Sundaram Seth
Sundaram Seth

Reputation: 391

.background{
 background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #2897e0 40%, #F1F1F1 40%);
 height:200px;
 
}

.background2{
  background: -webkit-linear-gradient(right, #2897e0 50%, #28e09c 50%);

 height:200px;
 
}
<html>
<body class="one">

<div class="background">
</div>
<div class="background2">
</div>
</body>
</html>

Upvotes: 4

justisb
justisb

Reputation: 7270

Older Browser Support

If older browser support is a must, so you can't go with multiple backgrounds or gradients, you're probably going to want to do something like this on a spare div element:

#background {
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    width: 50%;
    height: 100%;
    background-color: pink; 
}

Example: http://jsfiddle.net/PLfLW/1704/

The solution uses an extra fixed div that fills half the screen. Since it's fixed, it will remain in position even when your users scroll. You may have to fiddle with some z-indexes later, to make sure your other elements are above the background div, but it shouldn't be too complex.

If you have issues, just make sure the rest of your content has a z-index higher than the background element and you should be good to go.

Modern Browsers

If newer browsers are your only concern, there are a couple other methods you can use:

Linear Gradient:

This is definitely the easiest solution. You can use a linear-gradient in the background property of the body for a variety of effects.

body {
    height: 100%;
    background: linear-gradient(90deg, #FFC0CB 50%, #00FFFF 50%);
}

This causes a hard cutoff at 50% for each color, so there isn't a "gradient" as the name implies. Try experimenting with the "50%" piece of the style to see the different effects you can achieve.

Example: http://jsfiddle.net/v14m59pq/2/

Multiple Backgrounds with background-size:

You can apply a background color to the html element, and then apply a background-image to the body element and use the background-size property to set it to 50% of the page width. This results in a similar effect, though would really only be used over gradients if you happen to be using an image or two.

html {
    height: 100%;
    background-color: cyan;
}

body {
    height: 100%;
    background-image: url('http://i.imgur.com/9HMnxKs.png');
    background-repeat: repeat-y;
    background-size: 50% auto;
}

Example: http://jsfiddle.net/6vhshyxg/2/

EXTRA NOTE: Notice that both the html and body elements are set to height: 100% in the latter examples. This is to make sure that even if your content is smaller than the page, the background will be at least the height of the user's viewport. Without the explicit height, the background effect will only go down as far as your page content. It's also just a good practice in general.

Upvotes: 422

WebWanderer
WebWanderer

Reputation: 10867

So, this is an awfully old question which already has an accepted answer, but I believe that this answer would have been chosen had it been posted four years ago.

I solved this purely with CSS, and with NO EXTRA DOM ELEMENTS! This means that the two colors are purely that, just background colors of ONE ELEMENT, not the background color of two.

I used a gradient and, because I set the color stops so closely together, it looks as if the colors are distinct and that they do not blend.

Here is the gradient in native syntax:

background: repeating-linear-gradient(#74ABDD, #74ABDD 49.9%, #498DCB 50.1%, #498DCB 100%);

Color #74ABDD starts at 0% and is still #74ABDD at 49.9%.

Then, I force the gradient to shift to my next color within 0.2% of the elements height, creating what appears to be a very solid line between the two colors.

Here is the outcome:

Split Background Color

And here's my JSFiddle!

Have fun!

Upvotes: 20

akash
akash

Reputation: 1024

You can make a hard distinction instead of linear gradient by putting the second color to 0%

For instance,

Gradient - background: linear-gradient(80deg, #ff0000 20%, #0000ff 80%);

Hard distinction - background: linear-gradient(80deg, #ff0000 20%, #0000ff 0%);

Upvotes: 44

Carlos Cabo
Carlos Cabo

Reputation: 741

In a past project that had to support IE8+ and I achieved this using a image encoded in data-url format.

The image was 2800x1px, half of the image white, and half transparent. Worked pretty well.

body {
    /* 50% right white */
    background: red url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAACvAAAAABAQAAAAAqT0YHAAAAAnRSTlMAAHaTzTgAAAAOSURBVHgBYxhi4P/QAgDwrK5SDPAOUwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==) center top repeat-y;

   /* 50% left white */
   background: red url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAACvAAAAABAQAAAAAqT0YHAAAAAnRSTlMAAHaTzTgAAAAPSURBVHgBY/g/tADD0AIAIROuUgYu7kEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=) center top repeat-y;
}

You can see it working here JsFiddle. Hope it can help someone ;)

Upvotes: 10

user1162084
user1162084

Reputation: 462

I have used :after and it is working in all major browsers. please check the link. just need to careful for the z-index as after is having position absolute.

<div class="splitBg">
    <div style="max-width:960px; margin:0 auto; padding:0 15px; box-sizing:border-box;">
        <div style="float:left; width:50%; position:relative; z-index:10;">
            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem.
        </div>
        <div style="float:left; width:50%; position:relative; z-index:10;">
            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, 
        </div>
        <div style="clear:both;"></div>
    </div>
</div>`
css

    .splitBg{
        background-color:#666;
        position:relative;
        overflow:hidden;
        }
    .splitBg:after{
        width:50%;
        position:absolute;
        right:0;
        top:0;
        content:"";
        display:block;
        height:100%;
        background-color:#06F;
        z-index:1;
        }

fiddle link

Upvotes: 6

Jan Ranostaj
Jan Ranostaj

Reputation: 146

Use on your image bg

Vertical split

background-size: 50% 100%

Horizontal split

background-size: 100% 50%

Example

.class {
   background-image: url("");
   background-color: #fff;
   background-repeat: no-repeat;
   background-size: 50% 100%;
}

Upvotes: 4

Awaterujin
Awaterujin

Reputation: 63

You could use the :after pseudo-selector to achieve this, though I am unsure of the backward compatibility of that selector.

body {
    background: #000000
}
body:after {
    content:'';
    position: fixed;
    height: 100%;
    width: 50%;
    left: 50%;
    background: #116699
}

I have used this to have two different gradients on a page background.

Upvotes: 5

Sorin Haidau
Sorin Haidau

Reputation: 729

This is an example that will work on most browsers.
Basically you use two background colors, the first one starting from 0% and ending at 50% and the second one starting from 51% and ending at 100%

I'm using horizontal orientation:

background: #000000;
background: -moz-linear-gradient(left,  #000000 0%, #000000 50%, #ffffff 51%, #ffffff 100%);
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, right top, color-stop(0%,#000000), color-stop(50%,#000000), color-stop(51%,#ffffff), color-stop(100%,#ffffff));
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(left,  #000000 0%,#000000 50%,#ffffff 51%,#ffffff 100%);
background: -o-linear-gradient(left,  #000000 0%,#000000 50%,#ffffff 51%,#ffffff 100%);
background: -ms-linear-gradient(left,  #000000 0%,#000000 50%,#ffffff 51%,#ffffff 100%);
background: linear-gradient(to right,  #000000 0%,#000000 50%,#ffffff 51%,#ffffff 100%);
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#000000', endColorstr='#ffffff',GradientType=1 );

For different adjustments you could use http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/

Upvotes: 1

juniperi
juniperi

Reputation: 3763

Simple solution to achieve "split in two" background:

background: linear-gradient(to left, #ff0000 50%, #0000ff 50%);

You can also use degrees as direction

background: linear-gradient(80deg, #ff0000 50%, #0000ff 50%);

Upvotes: 89

Michael
Michael

Reputation: 133

this should work with pure css.

background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, right top, color-stop(50%,#141414), color-stop(50%,#333), color-stop(0%,#888));

tested in Chrome only.

Upvotes: 13

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