Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

element(id) 

element()

Experimental: This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The element() CSS function defines an <image> value generated from an arbitrary HTML element. This image is live, meaning that if the HTML element is changed, the CSS properties using the resulting value are automatically updated.

A particularly useful scenario for using this would be to render an image in an HTML <canvas> element, then use that as a background.

On Gecko browsers, you can use the non-standard document.mozSetImageElement() method to change the element being used as the background for a given CSS background element.

Syntax

element(id) 

where:

id

The ID of an element to use as the background, specified using the HTML attribute #id on the element.

Examples

These examples work in builds of Firefox that support -moz-element().

A somewhat realistic example

This example uses a hidden <div> as a background. The background element uses a gradient, but also includes text that is rendered as part of the background.

<div style="width:400px; height:400px; background:-moz-element(#myBackground1) no-repeat;">   <p>This box uses the element with the #myBackground1 ID as its background!</p> </div>  <div style="overflow:hidden; height:0;">   <div id="myBackground1" style="width:1024px; height:1024px; background-image: linear-gradient(to right, red, orange, yellow, white);">   <p style="transform-origin:0 0; transform: rotate(45deg); color:white;">This text is part of the background. Cool, huh?</p>   </div> </div> 

The <div> element with the ID "myBackground1" is used as the background for the content including the paragraph "This box uses the element with the #myBackground1 ID as its background!".

Page Preview

This example based on Vincent De Oliveira's creates a preview of the <div id="css-source"> inside <div id="css-result">.

HTML

<div id="css-source">     <h1>Page Preview</h1> </div> <div id="css-result"> </div> 

CSS

#css-result {     background: -moz-element(#css-source) no-repeat;     width: 256px;     height: 32px;     background-size: 80%;     border: dashed; } 

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Image Values and Replaced Content Module Level 4 # element-notation

See also

image() image-set() <image> <gradient> element() cross-fade() document.mozSetImageElement()

Last modified: Feb 9, 2022, by MDN contributors

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