How can I add a box-shadow on one side of an element?

Question

I need to create a box-shadow on some block element, but only (for example) on its right side. The way I do it is to wrap the inner element with box-shado

Answer 1

This could be a simple way

border-right : 1px solid #ffffd;
height:85px;    
box-shadow : 10px 0px 5px 1px #eaeaea;

Assign this to any div

Answer 2

To get the clipped effect on up to two sides you can use pseudo elements with background gradients.

header::before, main::before, footer::before, header::after, main::after, footer::after {
    display:    block;
    content:    '';
    position:   absolute;
    width:      8px;
    height:     100%;
    top:        0px;
}

header::before, main::before, footer::before {
    left:       -8px;
    background: linear-gradient(to left, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6), rgba(0, 0, 0, 0));
}

header::after, main::after, footer::after {
    right:      -8px;
    background: linear-gradient(to right, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6), rgba(0, 0, 0, 0));
}

will add a nice shadow-like effect to the left and right of the elements that normally make up a document.

Answer 3

Just use ::after or ::before pseudo element to add the shadow. Make it 1px and position it on whatever side you want. Below is example of top.

footer {
   margin-top: 50px;
   color: #fff;
   background-color: #009eff;
   text-align: center;
   line-height: 90px;
   position: relative;
}

footer::after {
    content: '';
    position: absolute;
    width: 100%;
    height: 1px;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    z-index: -1;
    box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75);
}

<footer>top only box shadow</footer>

Answer 4

Here's a little hack that I did.

<div id="element"><!--element that I want an one-sided inset shadow from the bottom--></div> 
<div class="one_side_shadow"></div>

1. Create a <div class="one_side_shadow"></div> right below the element that I want to create the one-side box shadow (in this case I want a one-sided inset shadow for id="element" coming from the bottom)

2. Then I created a regular box-shadow using a negative vertical offset to push the shadow upwards to one-side.

`box-shadow: 0 -8px 20px 2px #DEDEE3;`

Answer 5

clip-path is now (2020) one of simplest ways to achieve box-shadows on specific sides of elements, especially when the required effect is a "clean cut" shadow at particular edges (which I believe was what the OP was originally looking for) , like this:

.shadow-element {
    border: 1px solid #333;
    width: 100px;
    height: 100px;
    box-shadow: 0 0 15px rgba(0,0,0,0.75);
    clip-path: inset(0px -15px 0px 0px);
}

<div class="shadow-element"></div>

...as opposed to an attenuated/reduced/thinning shadow like this:

.shadow-element {
    border: 1px solid #333;
    width: 100px;
    height: 100px;
    box-shadow: 15px 0px 15px -10px rgba(0,0,0,0.75);
}

<div class="shadow-element"></div>

Simply apply the following CSS to the element in question:

box-shadow: 0 0 Xpx [hex/rgba]; /* note 0 offset values */
clip-path: inset(Apx Bpx Cpx Dpx);

Where:

• Apx sets the shadow visibility for the top edge
• Bpx right
• Cpx bottom
• Dpx left

Enter a value of 0 for any edges where the shadow should be hidden and a negative value (the same as the box-shadow blur radius - Xpx) to any edges where the shadow should be displayed.

Answer 6

Here is a codepen to demonstrate for each side, or a working snippet:

.boxes {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
}

.box {
  margin: 20px;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif;
  font-weight: 100;
  letter-spacing: 2px;
  color: #999;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  text-align: center;
  flex: 1;
  padding: 40px;
  line-height: 1.4em;
}

.top {
  box-shadow: 0 -5px 5px -5px #333;
}

.right {
  box-shadow: 5px 0 5px -5px #333;
}

.bottom {
  box-shadow: 0 5px 5px -5px #333;
}

.left {
  box-shadow: -5px 0 5px -5px #333;
}

<div class="boxes">
  <div class="box top">Top Only</div>
  <div class="box right">Right Only</div>
  <div class="box bottom">Bottom Only</div>
  <div class="box left">Left Only</div>
</div>