mask-border

The mask-border CSS property lets you create a mask along the edge of an element's border.

This property is a shorthand for mask-border-source, mask-border-slice, mask-border-width, mask-border-outset, mask-border-repeat, and mask-border-mode. As with all shorthand properties, any omitted sub-values will be set to their initial value.

Syntax

/* source | slice */
mask-border: url('border-mask.png') 25;

/* source | slice | repeat */
mask-border: url('border-mask.png') 25 space;

/* source | slice | width */
mask-border: url('border-mask.png') 25 / 35px;

/* source | slice | width | outset | repeat | mode */
mask-border: url('border-mask.png') 25 / 35px / 12px space alpha;

Values

<'mask-border-source'>

The source image. See mask-border-source.

<'mask-border-slice'>

The dimensions for slicing the source image into regions. Up to four values may be specified. See mask-border-slice.

<'mask-border-width'>

The width of the border mask. Up to four values may be specified. See mask-border-width.

<'mask-border-outset'>

The distance of the border mask from the element's outside edge. Up to four values may be specified. See mask-border-outset.

<'mask-border-repeat'>

Defines how the edge regions of the source image are adjusted to fit the dimensions of the border mask. Up to two values may be specified. See mask-border-repeat.

<'mask-border-mode'>

Defines whether the source image is treated as a luminance mask or alpha mask. See mask-border-mode.

Formal syntax

<'mask-border-source'> || <'mask-border-slice'> [ / <'mask-border-width'>? [ / <'mask-border-outset'> ]? ]? || <'mask-border-repeat'> || <'mask-border-mode'>

Example

Bitmap

In this example, we will mask an element's border with a diamond pattern. The source for the mask is a ".png" file of 90 by 90 pixels, with three diamonds going vertically and horizontally:

HTML

<div id="bitmap">This element is surrounded by a bitmap-based mask border! Pretty neat, isn't it?</div>

CSS

To match the size of a single diamond, we will use a value of 90 divided by 3, or 30, for slicing the image into corner and edge regions. A repeat value of round will make the mask slices fit evenly, i.e., without clipping or gaps.

div {
  width: 200px;
  background-color: lavender;
  border: 18px solid salmon;
  padding: 10px;

  mask-border:
    url("https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/15836/mask-border-diamonds.png")  /* source */
    30 /         /* slice */
    36px 18px    /* width */
    round;       /* repeat */
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

TBD