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Understand CSS Background Position with 4 Simple Examples

css background position

What Is the CSS Background Position Property?

The CSS background position property allows you to position a background image at any position within an element. This property helps create attractive web designs by allowing you to control exactly where a background image is positioned.

The CSS background position property is particularly useful when designing responsive websites. It allows you to adjust the positioning of background images based on the size of the viewport, ensuring that your design remains visually appealing and functional across a variety of screen sizes.

The background-position property in CSS accepts both percentage and length values, as well as keyword values like “top,” “center,” and “bottom.” You can achieve a wide range of positioning effects by combining these values in different ways.

This is part of a series of articles about CSS Image

In this article:

css background position

Importance of Controlling Background Image Position

Controlling the position of a background image is crucial for creating visually appealing and responsive designs. Properly positioned background images can enhance the user experience by ensuring key elements are always in view and maintaining the site’s overall aesthetic. Here are some key reasons why mastering background image positioning is essential:

Enhanced Visual Appeal

Controlling the background image position can significantly enhance the visual appeal of your web design. By strategically positioning your background images, you can draw attention to key elements of your design, create engaging visual patterns, and even guide your users’ eyes around the page. This can make your design more engaging and visually appealing.

Responsive Design Considerations

The background position property plays a crucial role in responsive design. It ensures that your background images always look their best, regardless of your user’s device or screen size. You can specify different background property values for different devices or screen sizes; one way to do this is via media queries.

Learn more in our detailed guide to responsive image techniques

Effective Use of Image Sprites

Image sprites are a technique for combining multiple images into a single image file, which can significantly reduce the number of HTTP requests your site makes and improve page load times. By using background-position, you can control which part of the sprite is visible within an element, allowing you to display different images from the sprite in other parts of your design.

Using the Background Position Property

The syntax for the CSS background position property is relatively straightforward. The property accepts one or two values, which specify the position of the background image along the x-axis (horizontal) and y-axis (vertical), respectively, like this:

 	background-position: 50px 100px;

These values can be specified as percentages, lengths, or keywords. There are nine possible keywords: top, bottom, left, right, center, top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right. These keywords allow you to position the background image relative to the edges of the element.

Two-value vs. Four-value Syntax

The CSS background position property can be specified using a two or four-value syntax. The two-value syntax, shown above, is simpler and more commonly used. It allows you to determine the horizontal and vertical positions of the background image using two values.

The four-value syntax looks like this:

background-position: right 20px bottom 10px;

This provides more control over the positioning of the background image. It allows you to specify the position of the background image relative to any corner of the element, as well as the offset from that corner. This makes it possible to position the background image at any point within the element.

Examples of the CSS Background Position Property

The CSS background-position property works with other CSS properties like background-image and background-repeat. Let’s look at examples of each of these. If you want to follow along with the same image, you can download image.jpg here.

Length Values Example

You can use this property with length values. These can be in pixels, ems, or CSS length measurements. The first value specifies the horizontal position, and the second specifies the vertical position.

body {
  background-image: url('image.jpg');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: 50px 100px;
}

css background position

In this example, the background image.jpg is positioned 50 pixels from the left and 100 pixels from the top of the body element. This is useful when you want to position a background image at a specific distance from an element’s top, right, bottom, or left edges.

Percentages Example

Like length values, the first percentage refers to the horizontal position, and the second refers to the vertical position.

body {
  background-image: url('image.jpg');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: 50% 25%;
}

css background position

In this example, the background image.jpg is positioned at 50% from the left and 25% from the top of the body element. This means that the point in the image that is 50% across and 25% down is placed at the point in the element that is 50% across and 25% down.

Keywords Example

Here is an example showing the use of keywords to position the background relative to the edges of the element:

body {
  background-image: url('image.jpg');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: top right;
}

css background position

In this example, the background image.jpg is positioned at the top right of the body element. This is a simple and straightforward way to position a background image, especially if you want it aligned with the edges of an element.

Four-Value Syntax Example

The four-value syntax allows you to position a background image away from a certain edge using a length or percentage.

body {
  background-image: url('image.jpg');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: right 20px bottom 10px;
}

css background position

Assuming you have a paragraph element <p>, using the above CSS, the background image will be placed 20px from the right margin, and it will be placed 10px below the height of <p> element.

Related content: Read our guide to CSS image effect

Generating Responsive Image Backgrounds With Cloudinary

A cloud-based Image and Video API, Cloudinary offers a generous free-forever subscription plan. While on that platform, you can upload images and apply built-in effects, filters, and modifications. You can also create image effects that are difficult or impossible to produce with just CSS.

Cloudinary makes it simple to deliver responsive images by:

QUICK TIPS
Colby Fayock
Cloudinary Logo Colby Fayock

In my experience, here are tips that can help you better understand and use the CSS background position property:

  1. Use background-size with background-position
    When working with background-position, combine it with background-size: cover or contain to ensure your background image scales properly while maintaining its intended position. This approach is particularly useful for responsive designs where the image must adjust to different screen sizes without distortion.
  2. Leverage background-position for parallax effects
    Create a simple parallax effect by adjusting the background position based on the scroll position. This can be done by dynamically setting the background-position in your JavaScript to achieve a smooth, interactive scrolling experience that keeps users engaged.
  3. Use calc() for dynamic positioning
    The calc() function in CSS allows you to mix percentage and length values for more precise control over background positioning. For example, background-position: calc(50% + 20px) calc(50% - 10px); lets you offset the image dynamically, ensuring it stays perfectly centered with an added adjustment.
  4. Ensure cross-browser compatibility
    Test your background positioning across different browsers, especially when using complex combinations like four-value syntax or percentages. Some older browsers might handle percentages differently, so use fallback positions like background-position: center; to ensure a consistent appearance.
  5. Combine background-position with multiple backgrounds
    When using multiple background images, the background-position property can control the position of each image independently. Specify positions for each image by separating values with commas, like background-position: top left, bottom right; for two images, giving you more design flexibility.
  6. Optimize for performance with image sprites
    When using image sprites, precisely position the background image with background-position to show only the desired part of the sprite. This method reduces HTTP requests and improves page load times, but requires careful coordination of the sprite’s coordinates.
  7. Responsive positioning with media queries
    Adjust background-position based on screen size using media queries. For instance, you might want the background image centered on large screens but aligned to the top-left on smaller devices. This strategy ensures that your design remains consistent and visually appealing across different devices.
  8. Handle high-DPI screens with CSS pixels
    On high-DPI screens, CSS pixels may not correspond to physical pixels. To maintain precise background positioning on such screens, use percentages or other scalable units like vw and vh for background-position to ensure consistent rendering across devices.
  9. Avoid using important
    Be cautious with using !important in background-position declarations, as it can make your code harder to maintain and override. Instead, use specific selectors or cascading styles to achieve the desired positioning without forcing it.
  10. Test with different content heights
    If your background image interacts with dynamic content heights, such as expanding or collapsing sections, test how background-position behaves. Use background-attachment: fixed; to ensure the image stays in place, or adjust positions dynamically with JavaScript to maintain visual consistency.
Last updated: Aug 24, 2024