Adding Shadows to Text with CSS `text-shadow`: Enhancing Readability and Visual Appeal

Learn how to use CSS's `text-shadow` property to add shadow effects to text, improving readability and creating visually interesting designs. This tutorial explains the `text-shadow` property's syntax, its parameters (horizontal offset, vertical offset, blur radius, color), and provides examples demonstrating its use in enhancing web page typography.

Adding Shadows to Text with CSS `text-shadow`

Understanding `text-shadow`

The CSS `text-shadow` property adds one or more shadows to text. This is a simple yet effective way to improve text readability or create unique visual effects. Shadows can make text stand out, enhance its appearance, or create a sense of depth.

`text-shadow` Syntax

The syntax for the `text-shadow` property is:

text-shadow: | none | initial | inherit;

Where:

• h-shadow: Horizontal shadow offset (required; allows negative values).
• v-shadow: Vertical shadow offset (required; positive values only).
• blur-radius: Blur radius (optional; defaults to 0).
• color: Shadow color (optional; defaults to the element's color).
• none: (Default) No shadow.
• initial: Resets to the default value.
• inherit: Inherits from the parent element.

Multiple shadows can be specified by separating them with commas.

Examples of `text-shadow`

These examples illustrate different shadow effects. You would need to include the corresponding HTML elements (e.g., paragraphs of text) and the CSS to see the results. The `text-shadow` property is applied directly to the text element.

Example 1: Simple Shadow

A basic shadow with horizontal and vertical offsets.

Example 2: Fuzzy Shadow

A blurred shadow using a larger `blur-radius` value.

Example 3: Multiple Shadows

This example demonstrates applying multiple shadows to create a more complex effect.

Example 4: Glow Effect

A glow effect is often achieved using a large blur radius and a color similar to the text's color.

p {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px yellow;
}