Applying Blend Modes in CSS

Blend modes in CSS can be used to blend the colors of two or more elements together, creating interesting and visually appealing effects. In this tutorial, we’ll go over the basics of how to use blend modes in CSS.

Applying Blend Modes in CSS

Step 1: Understanding the Basics of Blend Modes

Blend modes are used to determine how the colors of two elements will blend together. There are several different blend modes available in CSS, including:

• Normal: This is the default blend mode, which simply displays the color of the element without blending it with any other elements.
• Multiply: This blend mode multiplies the colors of the two elements together, resulting in a darker color.
• Screen: This blend mode multiplies the inverse of the colors of the two elements together, resulting in a lighter color.
• Overlay: This blend mode combines the Multiply and Screen blend modes, resulting in a color that is either darker or lighter, depending on the colors of the two elements being blended.
• Color Dodge: This blend mode brightens the colors of the underlying element, resulting in a lighter color.
• Color Burn: This blend mode darkens the colors of the underlying element, resulting in a darker color.
• Hard Light: This blend mode combines the Color Dodge and Color Burn blend modes, resulting in a color that is either lighter or darker, depending on the colors of the two elements being blended.
• Soft Light: This blend mode is similar to the Overlay blend mode, but with less intensity.
• Difference: This blend mode subtracts the colors of the top element from the colors of the bottom element, resulting in a color that is the difference between the two.
• Exclusion: This blend mode is similar to the Difference blend mode, but with less intensity.

Step 2: Applying Blend Modes in CSS

To apply a blend mode to an element in CSS, you’ll need to use the mix-blend-mode property. Here’s an example:

.box {
    background-color: #ff0000; /* red background color */
    mix-blend-mode: multiply; /* apply the multiply blend mode */
}

In this example, we’ve applied the multiply blend mode to a box element with a red background color. The resulting color will be a darker red, since the multiply blend mode multiplies the colors of the box with the colors of any underlying elements.

You can also apply blend modes to text elements using the color property. Here’s an example:

h1 {
    color: #ff0000; /* red text color */
    mix-blend-mode: screen; /* apply the screen blend mode */
}

In this example, we’ve applied the screen blend mode to an H1 element with a red text color. The resulting color will be a lighter red, since the screen blend mode multiplies the inverse of the colors of the text with the colors of any underlying elements.

Step 3: Using Multiple Blend Modes

You can also apply multiple blend modes to the same element by using the background-blend-mode property. Here’s an example:

.box {
    background-image: url('image.jpg');
    background-color: #ff0000;
    background-blend-mode: multiply, screen;
}

In this example, we’ve applied both the multiply and screen blend modes to a box element with an image background and a red background color. The resulting color will be a combination of the two blend modes, resulting in a color that is either darker or lighter, depending on the colors of the image and the background.