May 21

CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

With version three of CSS, many exciting features will be implemented. CSS3 leads to greater flexibility and makes it much easier to recreate previously complex effects. Many time-saving rules are being thought up for CSS3: text-shadow, box-sizing, opacity, multiple backgrounds, border-radius, border-image ,multi-column layout, etc…

Although only the most modern browsers currently support these effects, it’s still fun to see what’s around the corner!

In this post we will take a look at some interesting properties of CSS3 that you can put into practice in your website designs today.

CSS3 Color Module

CSS3 supports more color and a wider range of color definitions. The new colors that CSS3 support are HSL, CMYK, HSLA and RGBA. This powerpoint explains in details the CSS3 colors and how use them.

10col in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Gradient Borders

You can have gradient border using the -moz-border-radius / -webkit-border property.

01gb in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Border Image

Sometimes usual CSS border properties are not enough. If want to use images for borders, CSS3 supports border image through border-image and border-corner-image property.

02bi in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Rounded Corner Boxes

Andy budd shows us how to easily create rounded corners for any box using border-radius and background position.

03rc in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Box Shadow

The css3 property box-shadow allows you to add a shadow effect without using images to a selected element. Currently Safari 3+ and Firefox 3.1 (Alpha) supports box-shadow.

04bxs in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Multiple background Images

If you want to add multiple background to a box or a paragraph, CSS3 allows multiple background images on one element.

05mbg in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Multiple Columns

This CSS3 module allows to create multi-column texts without adding table using -moz-column-count and -moz-column-width. If you have text in your web pages that runs too long this CSS3 tag could be really useful.

06cssc in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Text Shadow

Need a Photoshop like Text shadow? CSS3 text-shadow property allows to add a shadow to each letter of some text. Also, text-shadow is not new to CSS3, it was originally proposed in CSS2, but was removed from CSS 2.1.

07txts in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Box-sizing and Box-model

CSS3 property box-sizing allows you to specify the behavior of the browser in calculating the width of an element and control if a box should be resizable.

08bsm in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

CSS3 Opacity

Although, CSS opacity property has been around for while, When CSS3 rolls out there will be more use of the opacity property. You can set the transparency of box, image and text using the opacity property.

09opa in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

CSS3 Selectors

Are you Confused with all CSS3 new selectors? This article provides useful insights and explanation of CSS3 selectors.

25sel in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Brilliant implementations of CSS3 Properties

Awesome Buttons with CSS3 and RGBA

You won’t believe that these button are created using CSS3 properties only without any images.

11cssbut in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Render User Interface Using CSS3

Here is a creative example of CSS3. A mock up of OSX user interface using CSS3. Click on the image to see the working demo.

12uint in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

CSS3 Template Layout with jQuery Plugin

This plugin allows web designers to use the W3’s CSS Template Layout Module using jQuery.

14cjl in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

View Demo

Using CSS3 RGBA for Transparency

If you are wondering how to achieve a transparent box like 24 ways, this article discusses RGBA which lets you specify a color as being translucent and how to use it.

17tran in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Custom Font with CSS3

While there are other ways to embed font, using CSS3 for custom font will be much easier.

18font in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Creating a Polaroid Photo Viewer with CSS3 and jQuery

Web designer Marco Kuiper shows us how to create a Polaroid Gallery by combining CSS3 and JQuery.

19cpg in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

View Demo

Example and Use of Box Sizing

This article discusses how to use CSS3 box sizing property.

20bx in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

CSS3 Corporate Fun

This menu mimics the pushed button when you hover by using CSS selectors.

21cm in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

CSS3 Links Creation and Usage

In CSS3 it is possible to mange links with more control and effectively. We can easily specify the values of various states of links which are link, visited, hover, and active states.

22lc in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Tooltip with CSS3

This post discuess how to create a tooltip using :before (or :after) pseudo element combined with the :hover pseudo class.

22tt in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

View Demo

Styling Forms with Attribute Selectors

This example focuses on how to style web form using attribute selectors.

23form in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

CSS Opacity

There are so many ways to use CSS transparency to create to make website user friendly website. You can control the opacity of the text or images that to create visually ecstatic content.

24trns in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Using CSS3 Selectors to Apply Link Icon

Adding an icon next to your link is much easier with CSS3 Selectors.

27ico in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Simple CSS3 rounded Corners with Support for IE

Although CSS3’s border-radius property is supported in the current versions of Safari and Firefox, Internet Explorer does not support it. However, using IE’s condition statement and image you can have cross browser nice rounded corner.

29ierc in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

View Demo

The Shadow Effect in CSS3

CSS3 property -webkit-box-shadow creates shadow on any specified div. The Demo is Safari only.

31shd in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

View Demo

Must Read CSS3 Related Articles :

Six Questions: Eric Meyer on CSS3

26sr in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

5 Techniques to Acquaint You With CSS3

28ntt in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Push Your Web Design Into The Future With CSS3

30sm in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

So, which CSS3 feature are you excited about? Let us know in comment.

Kawsar Ali in CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

Author: Kawsar Ali

Kawsar Ali is a web designer, graphic designer, and wannabe photograper based in NY, U.S. He’s also the founder of Desizn Tech, a site for web designer and web developer. If you’d like to connect with him, you can follow him on Twitter or at his Personal Website.

Write for Us! We are looking for exciting and creative articles, if you want to contribute, just send us an email.

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110 Responses, Add Comment +

  1. Brian Cray 21 May 2009

    I can’t wait for CSS3, especially when it hits all browser adoption in 2022

    • Kawsar Ali 21 May 2009

      Me too. It is going to be something exciting.

    • Rob 21 May 2009

      2022? lol

    • Sam 22 May 2009

      2022 — please we all know it’s going to be sooner then that — try 2021.

  2. Sklep Zoologiczny 21 May 2009

    Awesome article, the buttons and gallery are just amazing!

  3. Angie Bowen 21 May 2009

    Really great and comprehensive article. There are so many new and time saving options in CSS3. I’m really excited about it and wish we could get cross-browser support sooner.

  4. Dre Armeda 21 May 2009

    This is a wonderful round up of where styling for web is heading, even if it is in 2022.

    Thanks :)

  5. Anthony Alexander 21 May 2009

    The only thing I’m interested in is rotation, skew etc, better known as Flash Killing functionality. That Zeroix link made me remember exactly I hated Flash people. It took at least 10 minutes to load, not counting the first minute to load the loader.. really though,, HTML5 and CSS3 should bring very interesting developments in web design, or knowing the web community, one guy is going to do something cool then everyone else will follow for a few years.

  6. Anthony Alexander 21 May 2009

    PS. That Zeroix link Ewww, that’s probably the worst site I’ve seen in years. I won’t even start bashing, ewww.. I think I just threw up a little, in my mind. omg, it looks straight out of 1999

    ‘Zeroix is a unique web design project which is living its own life in addition to its direct functional goal. Mysterious futuristic design and perfect Flash implementation turned this project into new revolutionary standard for world web design.’

    umm, no

  7. nice article collection for CSS3, thanks..

  8. Geng Gao 21 May 2009

    Great post! I’m waiting the day W3C finalizes CSS3.

  9. Adis 21 May 2009

    I confuse, which one i want to try first..

  10. trice22 21 May 2009

    What’s with the “CSS3 Links Creation and Usage” article? CSS3? These pseudo class selectors have been around since CSS2. http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/selector.html#pseudo-class-selectors

  11. Jerome 21 May 2009

    Now we have to wait for IE12

  12. Marco 21 May 2009

    Great article, really nice roundup. Although there have been many CSS3 roundups on the web, this one is absolutely complete.

    Also, thanks for including the Marcofolio.net article (polaroids) !

    Keep up the great work!

  13. Jacob Gube 22 May 2009

    Great roundup Kawsar!

  14. Design freak 22 May 2009

    lets see how much time it takes for all browsers to support these features. will be interesting.

  15. Toejam 22 May 2009

    CSS3 Links Creation and Usage? That’s some good old fashioned CSS1 right there!

    • Chris Pratt 22 May 2009

      That’s what I was thinking. What the heck is that doing in this list?

    • Kawsar Ali 23 May 2009

      That post mostly focuses on CSS3 link usage

  16. Martin Gonzalez 22 May 2009

    great tutorials!!

  17. Juan Cherry 22 May 2009

    Very nice listing of some valuable reference tutorials

  18. Ron 22 May 2009

    Very simple tutorial that can easily enhance any website

  19. Karl 22 May 2009

    Not to nitpick, but did you realize that the link to browser CSS3 support you sent us to is a page that hasn’t been updated since 2003 and still shows Safari 1.2, Firefox 0.8.

    Here are a few other links that are a little more recent.

    http://www.css3.info/modules/selector-compat/

    and

    http://www.webdevout.net/browser-support-css#css3standards

  20. hadi060 22 May 2009

    Great CSS3 Tutorials collection! The webdesingers work will be easier with CSS3 :)
    Thanks very much for this helpful article.

  21. Sneh | LBOI Blog 23 May 2009

    Awesome roundup of some pretty useful resources. Thanks Kawsar!

  22. honour chick 23 May 2009

    excellent functions… i only wished they worked on all browsers :(

  23. balaji 24 May 2009

    nice article collection for CSS3. Thanks very much for this helpful article.

  24. Mehmet 26 May 2009

    very nice article collection for CSS3, thank you… :)

  25. Great List. Thanks for sharing the compilation.

  26. Jamie Allsop 27 May 2009

    This is a great list of CSS3 tutorials. I really like the Awesome Buttons with CSS3 and RGBA and Rounded Corner Boxes. It looks like CSS3 will make a web designers life much easier.

  27. create own website 27 May 2009

    great list to learn basic trips from

  28. hi 27 May 2009

    ddd

  29. Nardyello 28 May 2009

    Excellent post.

    The way this is headed, CSS will soon be it’s own programming language without the need of implementing other scripts in order for a page to display and function beautifully.

    If they ever do that, I can’t wait to use If, Else, and other great stuff you can only do with JS or PHP. But then again it wouldn’t be styling, and yes programming -.-’

  30. This is a wonderful round up of where styling for web is heading, even if it is in 2022.

  31. Cyndi 31 May 2009

    Nice article on CSS3!

  32. MadSwede 31 May 2009

    Wonder if IE6 will support this. I still think there’s a future for it!

  33. strony internetowe 1 June 2009

    ie6 as always support nothing :)

  34. Tonina 2 June 2009

    There is already a plug-in for ie6 that will make css3 work for sure, it is called “buy-a-new-OS-and-the-new-pc-that-support-is-requirements”

  35. rob 19 June 2009

    yeah, I can use many of your hints in my study work – thank you!

  36. Gopal Raju 25 June 2009

    This would make life easier!…Thanks!

    Gopal Raju,
    productivedreams.com

  37. Janko 13 July 2009

    Great roundup, Kawsar! As other said, I can’t wait for CSS to be supported by all major browsers

  38. saurabh shah 13 July 2009

    wow ! nice tutorials… just waiting to adopt by all browsers and yes it will be easier for web guys …

  39. Arek 3 December 2009

    Great tuts. Thanks

  40. SmashDesign 13 January 2010

    Great toturial

    Thanks a lot

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