Auto-resizing Skewed Background In CSS (+ Images?)

March 27, 2023 Post a Comment

I'm going to convert this PSD image to CSS. I've multiple h2s in multiple pages, so the inner text lenght and background-color may vary. Therefore the background should automatical

Solution 1:

For anyone who's interested, here's my temporary solution: live demo.

I used this sprite image:

skewed bg sprite

html:

<div class="container">
<h2 class="sub-heading"><span class="sub-heading-txt">Short title</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="container">
<h2 class="sub-heading"><span class="sub-heading-txt">A bit longer title</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="container">
<h2 class="sub-heading"><span class="sub-heading-txt">A damn long title is here!</span></h2>
</div>

(the .container div is only needed for variations)

css:

.sub-heading, .sub-heading:after, .sub-heading:before {
    background:url(tha-sprite-url.png) 0 0 no-repeat;
}

.sub-heading {
    position:relative;
    display:inline-block; clear:both;
    margin-left:31px; padding:0 18px 10px 0;
    font-size:25px; font-weight:normal; color:#FFF; line-height:47px;
    background-position:0 -75px;
    background-size:100% 282px; /* the sprite's height */
}

.sub-heading:before, .sub-heading:after { content:" "; position:absolute; top:0; }
.sub-heading:before { left:-31px; width:31px; height:57px; }
.sub-heading:after { right:-12px; width:12px; height:42px; background-position:-150px 0; }

.sub-heading-txt {
    display:block;
    -webkit-transform:rotate(-2deg); -ms-transform:rotate(-2deg); transform:rotate(-2deg);
}

/* variations */
.container { margin-bottom:10px; }
.container:nth-child(3n+2) .sub-heading { background-position:0 -150px; }
.container:nth-child(3n+2) .sub-heading:before { background-position:-50px 0; }
.container:nth-child(3n+2) .sub-heading:after { background-position:-175px 0; }
.container:nth-child(3n+3) .sub-heading { background-position:0 -225px; }
.container:nth-child(3n+3) .sub-heading:before { background-position:-100px 0; }
.container:nth-child(3n+3) .sub-heading:after { background-position:-200px 0; }

Works on IE9+

Unfortunately, background-size property doesn't support an "inherit" value, so the actual sprite's height must be set in the css :-( I'm still looking for a more efficient solution.

Solution 2:

With the combination of CSS shapes, positioning, :before and :after selectors I've managed to make the container expandable to any content. However, this approach only works in modern browsers and it seems that there's no proper solution without js. Also, the use of svg could be really handful in this case but again you're limited to the browser compatibility.

Here is the demo using pure CSS: http://jsfiddle.net/qaWKX/

EDIT

The use of svg turned out to be useless without an extra JS function. So I dropped this approach. However, the only proper solution relies on CSS3 but without the use of :before and :after selectors. My previous approach was relying on creating pseudo elements that hide both sides of the h3 title. Hiding is not enough when there's no solid color for the background.

With this logic I needed to have a background that will combine transparency and solid fill. The answer was on CSS3 linear-gradient background.

In details: 1. I rotated the h3 title 2. I masked the top area with its container (top:-value or margin-top:-value) 3. I set 2 linear-gradient background images to each side

Here's the demo: http://jsfiddle.net/P5gLE/1/

Solution 3:

here is the html:

<br>
<div class="scewed-shape">
    <div class="text-align">here is a very long text adsadsad</div>
</div>
<br>
<br>
<div class="scewed-shape">
    <div class="text-align">this one is shorter</div>
</div>

and here is the css that makes the custom shape:

.scewed-shape {
    display:inline-block;
    -webkit-transform: perspective(500px) rotateY(34deg);
    -ms-transform: perspective(500px) rotateY(34deg);
    left: -25px;
    height: 0;
    border-style: solid;
    border-color: red transparent transparent transparent;
    border-width: 70px 50px 0 50px;
}
.scewed-shape .text-align {
    position: relative;
    top: -25px;
}

Solution 4:

I don't think it is possible to do with just the h2. The problem occurs with the different angles of the skewed sides, meaning you need a 'container' for the skewing and transforms.

Given your example, I came up with the following:

http://jsfiddle.net/Cbx2q/1/

As you will see, this is has a couple of maintenance problems:

'Magic Numbers' - these will need tweaking dependent on the skew + size you choose.
Font rendering with the transform is somewhat worse.

Otherwise, it seems to work. The best solution outside of using pseudo-elements and CSS3 is likely to stick with plain old images for the background of each menu item.

Solution 5:

What about using CSS shapes? I haven't worked with them a ton, but it seems like a good place to start.

http://css-tricks.com/examples/ShapesOfCSS/

Html5 Tutorial