How do I combine CSS "text-shadow" and "background-image: -webkit-gradient"

Question

I am trying to achieve a gradient + text shadow effect in Chrome/Safari using CSS text-shadow and a combination of text-shadow and background-image: -webkit-gradient, see example blw. I can only make one of the effects apply(if I add the shadow the gradient disappears. What am I doing wrong?

h1 {
font-size: 100px;
background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(white), to(black));
-webkit-background-clip: text;
-webkit-text-fill-color: transparent;
text-shadow: 0 1px 1px #fff;
}

The current title is misleading, because it suggest that you want the surrounding of the text to have a gradient backround. — Tamás Bolvári, Jan 21 '21 at 08:57
The `-webkit-gradient(linear…` syntax is obsolete, it's safe to use `linear-gradient(white, black)` instead, see the browser support here: [caniuse.com/css-gradients](https://caniuse.com/css-gradients) — Tamás Bolvári, Jan 21 '21 at 09:01
I recommend this question title: **"How to add shadow to a gradient text?"**. And this question body: **"The gradient disappears when I add the text shadow."** + the code. — Tamás Bolvári, Jan 21 '21 at 09:07
A code snippet would be more useful, because we could see the result instantly by running it. — Tamás Bolvári, Jan 21 '21 at 09:08

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 20 '21 at 08:32

The gradient "disappears" because the text-shadow is on a level above the background.

The text (which is transparent)
The shadow
The background.

We can work around this by copying the text and put it below the original layer, then apply the shadow there, for example:

  h1 {
    position: relative;
    font-size: 100px;
    text-align: center;
  }
  
  h1 div {
    background-image: linear-gradient(white, black);
    -webkit-background-clip: text;
    -webkit-text-fill-color: transparent;
    position: absolute; 
    width: 100%;
}
  h1:after {
    text-shadow: 10px 10px 11px #fff;
    color: transparent;
  }
  
  #hello:after {
        content: 'Hello World';
  }

  <h1 id="hello"><div>Hello World</div></h1>

Thanks. How would I apply text-align to this? I cannot get the gradient to follow along? — mac, Sep 27 '10 at 11:49

score 11 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 20 '21 at 08:33

11

With no extra HTML markup or pseudo elements you can achieve this effect using the filter property and drop-shadow function. This method also works with a background image vs gradient.

h1 {
  font:54px 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica', Arial, sans-serif;
  background-image: linear-gradient(#787878, #484848);
  -webkit-background-clip: text;
  -webkit-text-fill-color: transparent;
  -webkit-filter: drop-shadow(2px 2px #333);
          filter: drop-shadow(2px 2px #333);
}

Fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/eywda89g/

edited Jan 20 '21 at 08:33

Tamás Bolvári

2,790
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answered Feb 12 '18 at 19:02

Ken

333
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1

This is nice. But: If the text has several lines, the gradient goes across all lines, not per line. Is there a way to make the gradient for text per line? – Ralf Oct 30 '21 at 20:45
I believe this is a better alternative to the accepted answer! – Shahriar Feb 19 '22 at 09:48

Michael · Answer 3 · 2021-01-22T16:40:21.833

This answer is similar to the answer by @KennyTM above, except his answer has the shadow hard-coded into the CSS, which is not suitable for dynamic text such as in a CMS. Also, his method requires a separate ID for each instance, which would be very tedious if you plan to use this effect a lot. The example below uses a class instead, and allows dynamic text.

Try this:

h1 {
    position: relative;
    font-size: 100px;
    text-align: center;
}

h1 div {
    background-image: linear-gradient(teal, black);
    -webkit-background-clip: text;
    -webkit-text-fill-color: transparent;
    position: absolute; 
    width: 100%;
}
h1:after {
    text-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #000000;
    color: transparent;
}

.gradient-shadow:after {
    content: attr(title); /* Pulls the text from the 'title' attribute to make the shadow */
}

And then in your HTML:

<h1 class="gradient-shadow" title="Hello World"><div>Hello World</div></h1>

Just make sure that the text in the <div> matches the text in the title attribute.

Here is a Codepen example of this method: https://codepen.io/mprewitt/pen/gexypd

How do I combine CSS "text-shadow" and "background-image: -webkit-gradient"

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