CSS Reference

Essential CSS properties and selectors for beginners and web developers.

Text & Fonts

color

Changes text color.

color: red;

font-size

Changes text size.

font-size: 24px;

font-family

Sets font style.

font-family: Arial;

font-weight

Makes text bold.

font-weight: bold;

font-style

Makes text italic.

font-style: italic;

text-align

Aligns text.

text-align: center;

text-decoration

Adds underline or removes links underline.

text-decoration: none;

line-height

Controls line spacing.

line-height: 1.5;

letter-spacing

Changes spacing between letters.

letter-spacing: 2px;

text-transform

Uppercase or lowercase text.

text-transform: uppercase;

Backgrounds & Colors

background

Sets background color or image.

background: blue;

background-color

Background color.

background-color: black;

background-image

Adds background image.

background-image: url(image.jpg);

background-size

Controls image size.

background-size: cover;

background-position

Moves background image.

background-position: center;

opacity

Changes transparency.

opacity: 0.5;

Spacing

margin

Outer spacing.

margin: 20px;

padding

Inner spacing.

padding: 20px;

margin-top

Top margin.

margin-top: 10px;

padding-left

Left padding.

padding-left: 15px;

gap

Space between grid/flex items.

gap: 20px;

Sizing

width

Element width.

width: 300px;

height

Element height.

height: 200px;

max-width

Maximum width.

max-width: 100%;

min-height

Minimum height.

min-height: 100vh;

Borders & Effects

border

Adds border.

border: 1px solid black;

border-radius

Rounded corners.

border-radius: 10px;

box-shadow

Adds shadow.

box-shadow: 0 0 10px gray;

outline

Outline around element.

outline: 2px solid blue;

Display & Layout

display

Controls layout type.

display: flex;

display: block

Block element.

display: block;

display: inline

Inline element.

display: inline;

display: grid

Grid layout.

display: grid;

overflow

Controls overflow content.

overflow: hidden;

Flexbox

flex-direction

Row or column layout.

flex-direction: column;

justify-content

Horizontal alignment.

justify-content: center;

align-items

Vertical alignment.

align-items: center;

flex-wrap

Wrap flex items.

flex-wrap: wrap;

flex-grow

Grow flex item.

flex-grow: 1;

Positioning

position

Sets positioning mode.

position: absolute;

top

Moves element down.

top: 20px;

left

Moves element right.

left: 50px;

z-index

Controls layer order.

z-index: 10;

CSS Grid

grid-template-columns

Creates grid columns.

grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;

grid-template-rows

Creates grid rows.

grid-template-rows: auto;

place-items

Centers grid items.

place-items: center;

Transitions & Animation

transition

Smooth animation effect.

transition: 0.3s;

transform

Moves or scales element.

transform: scale(1.2);

animation

Runs CSS animation.

animation: fade 2s;

@keyframes

Defines animation.

@keyframes fade {}

Selectors

.class

Selects class.

.box {}

#id

Selects ID.

#header {}

*

Selects everything.

* { margin:0; }

:hover

Mouse hover effect.

button:hover {}

:focus

Focused input style.

input:focus {}

::before

Adds content before element.

::before {}

::after

Adds content after element.

::after {}