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The CSS Background Color

Reading time 1 min
Published Aug 10, 2017
Updated Oct 10, 2019

Choosing CSS background color

The CSS background-color property lets you change the background color for the selected element:

Example
body {
    background-color: blue;
}

CSS background color is applied to the padding, but not the margin of the element. It is an animatable property, introduced in CSS1:

Example
.example {
  max-width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  margin: 10px;
  padding: 10px;
  background-color: #333;
}

CSS background-color property syntax

To apply a CSS background color, you need to follow the syntax example below:

background-color: value;

The default value for this property is transparent. You can change it using the name, RGB or HEX value of the color you choose:

Example
body {
  background-color: rgb(0, 255, 0);
}

p {
  background-color: red;
}
Example
.example {
  background-color: #102296;
}

Tip: to get the value for the exact color tone you need, use the Pickeristic color picker.

Browser support

Chrome
1+
Edge
12+
Firefox
1+
IE
4+
Opera
3.5+
Safari
1+

Mobile browser support

Chrome
18+
Firefox
4+
Opera
All
Safari
All
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