CSS background-color Property

Example

Set the background-color of different elements:

body
{
background-color:yellow;
}
h1
{
background-color:#00ff00;
}
p
{
background-color:rgb(255,0,255);
}

Try it yourself »

More examples at the bottom of this page.

The background-color property sets the background color of an element.

The background of an element is the total size of the element, including padding and border (but not the margin).

Default value:	transparent
Inherited:	no
Version:	CSS1
JavaScript syntax:	object.style.backgroundColor="#00FF00"

The background-color property is supported in all major browsers.

Note: No versions of Internet Explorer (including IE8) support the property value "inherit".

Tip: Use a background color and a text color that makes the text easy to read.

Value	Description
color_name	Specifies the background color with a color name, like red
hex_number	Specifies the background color with a hex code, like #ff0000
rgb_number	Specifies the background color with an RGB code, like rgb(255,0,0)
transparent	Specifies that the background color should be transparent. This is default
inherit	Specifies that the background color should be inherited from the parent element

Set the background-color of a part of the text
This example demonstrates how to set the background-color of a part of the text.