CSS Color Keywords
This page will explain the transparent, currentcolor, and inherit keywords.
The transparent Keyword
The transparent keyword is used to make a color transparent. This is often used to make a transparent background color for an element.
Example
Here, the background color of the <div> element will be fully transparent, and the background image will show through:
body {
background-image: url(“paper.gif”);
}
div {
background-color: transparent;
}
Note: The transparent keyword is equivalent to rgba(0,0,0,0). RGBA color values are an extension of RGB color values with an alpha channel – which specifies the opacity for a color. Read more in our CSS RGB chapter and in our CSS Colors chapter.
The currentcolor Keyword
The currentcolor keyword is like a variable that holds the current value of the color property of an element.
This keyword can be useful if you want a specific color to be consistent in an element or a page.
Example
In this example the border color of the <div> element will be blue, because the text color of the <div> element is blue:
div {
color: blue;
border: 10px solid currentcolor;
}
Example
In this example the <div>’s background color is set to the current color value of the body element:
body {
color: purple;
}
div {
background-color: currentcolor;
}
Example
In this example the <div>’s border color and shadow color is set to the current color value of the body element:
body {
color: green;
}
div {
box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px currentcolor;
border: 5px solid currentcolor;
}
The inherit Keyword
The inherit keyword specifies that a property should inherit its value from its parent element.
The inherit keyword can be used for any CSS property, and on any HTML element.
Example
In this example the <span>’s border settings will be inherited from the parent element:
div {
border: 2px solid red;
}
span {
border: inherit;
}