CSS (perhaps with Compass): Cross-browser gradient

Question

I would like to get a gradient in CSS (perhaps through Compass) that works in every major browser, including IE7+. Is there an easy way to do this (without writing a lot of

Answer 1

The code I use for all browser gradients..

            background: #0A284B;
            background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#0A284B), to(#135887));
            background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #0A284B, #135887);
            background: -o-linear-gradient(#0A284B, #135887);
            filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#0A284B', endColorstr='#135887');
            zoom:1;

You will need to specify a height or zoom:1 to apply hasLayout to the element for this to work in ie

Answer 2

I just noticed that the current Compass beta (0.11.beta.6) has support for generating IE gradients in the compass/css3/images module (which supersedes the previous gradient module), so you can generate your gradients with a total of two short commands:

@import "compass/css3/images";
@import "compass/utilities/general/hacks";  /* filter-gradient needs this */

.whatever {
  /* IE; docs say this should go first (or better, placed in separate IE-only stylesheet): */
  @include filter-gradient(#aaaaaa, #eeeeee);
  /* Fallback: */
  background: #cccccc;
  /* CSS 3 plus vendor prefixes: */
  @include background(linear-gradient(top, #aaaaaa, #eeeeee));
}

This generates the following slew of CSS:

.whatever {
  *zoom: 1;
  -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(gradientType=0, startColorstr='#FFAAAAAA', endColorstr='#FFEEEEEE')";
  filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(gradientType=0, startColorstr='#FFAAAAAA', endColorstr='#FFEEEEEE');
  background: #cccccc;
  background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 50% 0%, 50% 100%, color-stop(0%, #aaaaaa), color-stop(100%, #eeeeee));
  background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #aaaaaa, #eeeeee);
  background: -o-linear-gradient(top, #aaaaaa, #eeeeee);
  background: linear-gradient(top, #aaaaaa, #eeeeee);
}

I guess I would have preferred to have the IE and non-IE gradient code in one call, but since IE's DXImageTransform gradient function is pretty limited, that is probably not possible.

Answer 3

While gradients are of limited complexity, they're complex enough to require what you would consider "lots of code".

Consider:

• starting colour, ending colour and the hexadecimal math required to transition between one and the other
• The number of "steps"
• The width/height of each step
• Since there is no pure CSS way of doing this, it means rendering HTML, one element for each colour/step, without messing up your existing HTML

So, no, without a plug-in that does all of this for you, it would require a bit of code, or an image.