background Attribute | background Property

Sets or retrieves up to five separate background properties of the object.

Syntax

HTML { background: sBackground }

Scripting object.style.background [ = sBackground ]

HTML	{ background: sBackground }
Scripting	object.style.background [ = sBackground ]

Possible Values

sBackground String that specifies up to five of the following space-delimited values, in any order:

color Any of the range of color values available to the backgroundColor property.

image Any of the range of image values available to the backgroundImage property.

repeat Any of the range of repeat values available to the backgroundRepeat property.

attachment Any of the range of attachment values available to the backgroundAttachment property.

position Any of the range of position values available to the backgroundPosition property.

The property is read/write with a default value of transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%. The cascading style sheets (CSS) attribute is not inherited.

Expressions can be used in place of the preceding value(s), as of Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5. For more information, see Dynamic Properties.

Remarks

The background property is a composite property. Separate properties can be used to specify each of the individual properties, but in many cases it is more convenient to set them in one place using this composite property.

Individual background properties not set by the composite background property are set to their default values. For example, the default value for image is none. Setting background: white is equivalent to setting background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%. So, in addition to setting the background color to white, setting background: white clears any image, repeat, attachment, or position values previously set.

The background properties render in the object's content and padding; however, borders are set using the border properties.

In Microsoft® Internet Explorer 3.0, elements that expose the background property only support the color and image values; the attachment value is only supported by the BODY, TABLE, and TD elements. In block elements, such as P and DIV, background images and colors appear only behind text in Internet Explorer 3.0; in Internet Explorer 4.0 and later, backgrounds stretch from margin to margin when used with block elements.

Although objects do not inherit the background property, the background image or color of an object's parent appears behind an object if a background is not specified.

For more information about supported colors, see the Color Table.

Example

The following examples use the background property and the background attribute to set the background values.

This example uses inline event handlers to modify the background-color and background-position attributes of an image. These attributes are specified in an embedded style sheet using the background attribute.

Sample Code
<STYLE>
.style1{background:beige url(sphere.jpg) no-repeat top center}
.style2{background:ivory url(sphere.jpeg) no-repeat bottom right}
</STYLE>
</HEAD> 
<BODY>
<SPAN onmouseover="this.className='style1'"
    onmouseout="this.className='style2'">
. . .  </SPAN>
This feature requires Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the icon below to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

This example uses inline scripting to modify the backgroundColor and backgroundPosition properties of an image.
<SPAN onclick="this.style.background='beige url(sphere.jpeg) 
  no-repeat top center'">
. . . </SPAN>
This feature requires Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the icon below to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

Applies To

[ Object Name ]

Platform Version

Win16:

Win32:

Mac:

Unix:

WinCE:

Version data is listed when the mouse hovers over a link, or the link has focus.

A, ADDRESS, B, BIG, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BUTTON, CAPTION, CENTER, CITE, CODE, COL, COLGROUP, custom, DD, DFN, DIR, DIV, DL, DT, EM, FIELDSET, FORM, Hn, HTML, I, IMG, INPUT type=button, INPUT type=checkbox, INPUT type=file, INPUT type=image, INPUT type=password, INPUT type=radio, INPUT type=reset, INPUT type=submit, INPUT type=text, ISINDEX, KBD, LABEL, LEGEND, LI, LISTING, MARQUEE, MENU, OL, P, PLAINTEXT, PRE, runtimeStyle, S, SAMP, SELECT, SMALL, SPAN, STRIKE, STRONG, style, SUB, SUP, TABLE, TBODY, TD, TEXTAREA, TFOOT, TH, THEAD, TR, TT, U, UL, VAR, XMP