CSS Zigzag Border with a Textured Background

Question

I\'ve been working on a header with a zigzag border. One way to do this is to use images to make the zigzag effect.

(1) Is there any way to create a practica

Answer 1

(In modern browsers) you can use SVGs to create simple drawings, and use them as CSS background images embedded as data URI.

Here is what the SVGs look like:

body {
  background: #888;
}

Example 1:

.zigzag-outside {
  position: relative;
  margin-top: 4px;
  margin-bottom: 4px;
  background-color: #CC0000;
  /* example content */
  padding: 1em;
  font: bold medium sans-serif;
  color: #FFFFFF;
}
.zigzag-outside:before {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  top: -4px;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  height: 4px;
  /* red up pointing triangle */
  background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20version%3D%221.1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%228px%22%20height%3D%224px%22%3E%3Cpolygon%20points%3D%220%2C4%204%2C0%208%2C4%22%20fill%3D%22%23CC0000%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E");
}
.zigzag-outside:after {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  bottom: -4px;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  height: 4px;
  /* red down pointing triangle */
  background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20version%3D%221.1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%228px%22%20height%3D%224px%22%3E%3Cpolygon%20points%3D%220%2C0%204%2C4%208%2C0%22%20fill%3D%22%23CC0000%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E");
}

Example 1

Example 2:

.zigzag-inside {
  position: relative;
  /* example content */
  width: 600px;
  height: 100px;
  background-image: url(http://i.stack.imgur.com/uOVfl.jpg);
}
.zigzag-inside:before {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  height: 4px;
  /* white down pointing triangle */
  background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20version%3D%221.1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%228px%22%20height%3D%224px%22%3E%3Cpolygon%20points%3D%220%2C0%204%2C4%208%2C0%22%20fill%3D%22%23FFFFFF%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E");
}
.zigzag-inside:after {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 0;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  height: 4px;
  /* white up pointing triangle */
  background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20version%3D%221.1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%228px%22%20height%3D%224px%22%3E%3Cpolygon%20points%3D%220%2C4%204%2C0%208%2C4%22%20fill%3D%22%23FFFFFF%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E");
}