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CSS border-image-source

The CSS border-image-source property is one of the properties introduced in CSS3 for the purposes of enabling images to be used on CSS borders.

The border-image-source property is used for specifying an image location to be used as a border.

The border-image-source property is used in conjunction with the border-image-slice, border-image-width, border-image-outset, and border-image-repeat properties in order to determine how the image will appear on the border.

Note that setting an image border will override any border that has been specified using the border-style properties. However, if the image cannot be loaded, or if the border-image-source value is none, the border styles will be used instead.

To save time (and use less code), use the border-image property to set all your background image properties at once.

The examples on this page include browser-specific properties that start with extensions such as -webkit-, -moz-, etc. This is for browser compatibility reasons. See the bottom of this article for more on this.

Syntax: border-image-source: none | <image>
Example
-webkit-border-image-source: url(/pix/css/css3/properties/border-image-1.png); /* Safari and Chrome */
-moz-border-image-source: url(/pix/css/css3/properties/border-image-1.png); /* Firefox */
-ms-border-image-source: url(/pix/css/css3/properties/border-image-1.png); /* Internet Explorer */
-o-border-image-source: url(/pix/css/css3/properties/border-image-1.png); /* Opera */
border-image-source: url(/pix/css/css3/properties/border-image-1.png); /* CSS3 */
Note that this example includes various CSS extensions in addition to the W3C CSS3 property. This is for browser compatibility.
Try it yourself!


Possible Values:
none
Specifies that no image is to be used.
<image>
Specifies the location of the image to be used. For example, http://www.example.com/images/myimage.png
Initial Value: none
Applies to: All elements, except internal table elements when border-collapse is collapse
Inherited: No
Media: Visual

Browser Compatibility

At the time of writing, CSS3 was still under development and browser support for many CSS3 properties was limited or non-existent. For maximum browser compatibility many web developers add browser-specific properties by using extensions such as -webkit- for Safari and Google Chrome, -ms- for Internet Explorer, -moz- for Firefox, -o- for Opera etc. As with any CSS property, if a browser doesn't support a proprietary extension, it will simply ignore it.

This practice is not recommended by the W3C, however in many cases, the only way you can test a property is to include the CSS extension that is compatible with your browser.

Be aware that if you choose to use the proprietary CSS extensions in a live environment, your code will not pass any W3C CSS validation, as the browser-specific properties are not valid W3C properties.

Many of the CSS3 examples on this website include these browser specific properties. If they weren't included, most of the examples wouldn't work for most users (at least, not until possibly years after the article was written).

The major browser manufacturers are working to support the W3C properties, and eventually, you will be able to omit these browser-specific properties.

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