Gradient colors in Internet Explorer

I know that Internet Explorer has some proprietary extensions so that you can do things like create divs with a gradient background. I can't remember the element name or it's usage. Does anyone have some examples or links?

Look at the custom CSS filters IE can handle http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms532847.aspx

The code I use for all browser gradients:

background: #0A284B;
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#0A284B), to(#135887));
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#0A284B, #135887);
background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #0A284B, #135887);
background: -ms-linear-gradient(#0A284B, #135887);
background: -o-linear-gradient(#0A284B, #135887);
background: 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.

Update:

Here is a LESS Mixin (CSS) version for all you LESS users out there:

.gradient(@start, @end) {
    background: mix(@start, @end, 50%);
    filter: ~"progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorStr="@start~", EndColorStr="@end~")";
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(@start), to(@end));
    background: -webkit-linear-gradient(@start, @end);
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, @start, @end);
    background: -ms-linear-gradient(@start, @end);
    background: -o-linear-gradient(@start, @end);
    background: linear-gradient(@start, @end);
    zoom: 1;
}

The filter style should work for IE8 and IE9.

.gradientClass
{
  filter:  progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(GradientType=0,startColorstr='#e6e6e6', endColorstr='#CCCCCC');       
}

A significant gotcha when it comes to gradients in IE is that although you can use Microsoft's filters...

filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#FCCA6D', endColorstr='#FEFEFE');
zoom:1;

...they kill clear type on any text covered by the gradient. Given that the purpose of gradients is normally to make the UI look better, that's a show stopper for me.

So for IE I use a repeating background image instead. If the background image css is combined with the gradient CSS for other browsers (as per Blowsie's answer), other browsers will ignore the background image in favour of the gradient css, so it will only end up applying to IE.

background-image: url('/Content/Images/button-gradient.png');

There are plenty of sites you can use to quickly generate a gradient background; I use this.

thezar

Great tool from Microsoft, allows you to examine colors real-time and generates CSS for all browsers: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/graphics/cssgradientbackgroundmaker/default.html

/* IE10 */ 
background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #FFFFFF 0%, #B7B8BD 300%);

/* Mozilla Firefox */ 
background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #FFFFFF 0%, #B7B8BD 300%);

/* Opera */ 
background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #FFFFFF 0%, #B7B8BD 300%);

/* Webkit (Safari/Chrome 10) */ 
background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0, #FFFFFF), color-stop(3, #B7B8BD));

/* Webkit (Chrome 11+) */ 
background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #FFFFFF 0%, #B7B8BD 300%);

/* Proposed W3C Markup */ 
background-image: linear-gradient(top, #FFFFFF 0%, #B7B8BD 300%);

Just thought I'd add this useful link: http://css3please.com/

Shows how to get gradients working in all browsers.

TimKola

Note that IE10 will support gradients as follows:

background: -ms-linear-gradient(#017ac1, #00bcdf);

Right from ScriptFX.com article:

<body bgcolor="#000000" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0">

    <div style="width:100%;height:100%; filter: progid:
        DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient (GradientType=1,
        StartColorStr='#FF006600', EndColorStr='#ff456789')">

Your page content goes in here ...... at the end of all the page content, you must close the <div> tag, immediately before the closing <body> tag.... as below

    </div>
</body>

Try this:

.red {
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#e02a42', endColorstr='#a91903', GradientType=0); /* IE6-9 */
    height: 0; /* gain layout IE5+ */   
    zoom: 1; /* gain layout IE7+ */
}

Vincent

Two things I discovered while struggling with IE 9 gradient.