Can I have a horizontal multiple colour gradient on text using CSS3 / HTML 5?

Question

I'm trying to replace a sIFR based flash effect currently used on a website with CSS 3 styling. I have the text gradient effect working well using CSS 3 but the original sIFR implementation had multiple colours rather than just a simple gradient of one colour to the next.

Can someone provide me an example of styling a text element such as an H2 using multiple colours along the horizontal axis?

Thanks, Brian.

Answer 1

Here is sample SVG code - tested with FF4, Safari 5, and Chrome. Note that you have to serve this as an XHTML page for Safari to render it. This should also work with IE9 but I haven't tested it.

<svg
   xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
   xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
   xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
   version="1.1">

  <defs
     id="FooDefs">
    <linearGradient
       id="MyFirstGradient"
       x1="400"
       y1="350"
       x2="400"
       y2="420"
       gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse">
      <stop
         id="stop1"
         style="stop-color:#1acf86;"
         offset="0" />
      <stop
         id="stop2"
         style="stop-color:#ff0051;"
         offset="0.25" />
      <stop
         id="stop3"
         style="stop-color:#1da1c9;"
         offset="0.625" />
      <stop
         id="stop4"
         style="stop-color:#e45f25;"
         offset="1" />
    </linearGradient>
  </defs>
    <text
         x="150"
         y="420"
         id="textBAR"
         style="font-size:72px;fill:url(#MyFirstGradient);">
BIG TEXT TEST
</text>
</svg>

Answer 2

As far as I know this is only possible in webkit

h1 {
  font-size: 72px;
  background-image: -webkit-gradient(
    linear,
    left top,
    right top,
    color-stop(0.03, rgb(250,3,3)),
    color-stop(0.52, rgb(240,255,127)),
    color-stop(0.76, rgb(42,24,173)));
  -webkit-background-clip: text;
  -webkit-text-fill-color: transparent;
}

http://jsfiddle.net/gEGHq/1