CSS - Outlines

Outlines are very similar to the borders but there are few major differences in borders and outlines:

• An outline does not take up space.
• Outlines do not have to be rectangular.
• Outline is always the same on all sides; you cannot specify different values for different sides of the element.

NOTE: The outline properties are not supported by IE 6 or Netscape 7.
You can set following outline properties using CSS.

• The outline-width property is used to set the width of the outline.
• The outline-style property is used to set the line style for the outline.
• The outline-color property is used to set the color of the outline.
• The outline property is used to set all the above three properties in a single statement.

The outline-width Property:

The outline-width property specifies the width of the outline to be added to the box. Its value should be a length or one of the values thin, medium, or thick . just like the border-width attribute
A width of zero pixels means no outline.
Here is the example:

<p style="outline-width:thin; outline-style:solid;"> This text is having thin outline. </p> <br /> <p style="outline-width:thick; outline-style:solid;"> This text is having thick outline. </p> <br /> <p style="outline-width:5px; outline-style:solid;"> This text is having 5x outline. </p>

This will produce following result:

This text is having thin outline. This text is having thick outline. This text is having 5x outline.

The outline-style Property:

The outline-style property specifies the style for the line (solid, dotted, or dashed) that goes around an element. It can take one of the following values:

• none: No border. (Equivalent of outline-width:0;)
• solid: Outline is a single solid line.
• dotted: Outline is a series of dots.
• dashed: Outline is a series of short lines.
• double: Outline is two solid lines.
• groove: Outline looks as though it is carved into the page.
• ridge: Outline looks the opposite of groove.
• inset: Outline makes the box look like it is embedded in the page.
• outset: Outline makes the box look like it is coming out of the canvas.
• hidden: Same as none.

Here is the example:

<p style="outline-width:thin; outline-style:solid;"> This text is having thin solid outline. </p> <br /> <p style="outline-width:thick; outline-style:dashed;"> This text is having thick dashed outline. </p> <br /> <p style="outline-width:5px;outline-style:dotted;"> This text is having 5x dotted outline. </p>

This will produce following result:

This text is having thin solid outline. This text is having thick dashed outline. This text is having 5x dotted outline.

The outline-color Property:

The outline-color property allows you to specify the color of the outline. Its value should either be a color name, a hex color, or an RGB value, as with the color and border-color properties.
Here is the example:

<p style="outline-width:thin; outline-style:solid; outline-color:red"> This text is having thin solid red outline. </p> <br /> <p style="outline-width:thick; outline-style:dashed; outline-color:#009900"> This text is having thick dashed green outline. </p> <br /> <p style="outline-width:5px;outline-style:dotted; outline-color:rgb(13,33,232)"> This text is having 5x dotted blue outline. </p>

This will produce following result:

This text is having thin solid red outline. This text is having thick dashed green outline. This text is having 5x dotted blue outline.

The outline Property:

The outline property is a shorthand property that allows you to specify values for any of the three properties discussed previously in any order but in a single statement.
Here is the example:

<p style="outline:thin solid red;"> This text is having thin solid red outline. </p> <br /> <p style="outline:thick dashed #009900;"> This text is having thick dashed green outline. </p> <br /> <p style="outline:5px dotted rgb(13,33,232);"> This text is having 5x dotted blue outline. </p>

This will produce following result:

This text is having thin solid red outline. This text is having thick dashed green outline. This text is having 5x dotted blue outline.