CSS outline is a property used to draw a line around an element’s border. It does not affect the layout, unlike borders. It’s often used to highlight elements, providing a visual emphasis without altering the dimensions of the element.
Syntax
selector{
outline: outline-width outline-type outline-color;
/*outline: 2px solid grey;*/
}Example: This example uses the outline property to create a dashed blue outline.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.dotted {
outline: 2px dashed blue;
color: green;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>GeeksforGeeks</h1>
<h3>Outline Property</h3>
<p class="dotted">
A Computer Science portal for geeks.
</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
CSS Outline Example output
CSS outline properties can be categorized into 4 types, namely, Outline-style, Outline-color, Outline-width & Outline-offset. We will discuss all the types of outline properties sequentially through the examples.
CSS Outline Properties
There are lots of properties comes under the CSS outline collection all of them are well described with the example.
Outline-style
The outline-style property sets the appearance of the outline of an element. Any other outline property cannot be accessed without setting the outline-style. If absent, the default style will be set to none.
Syntax
outline-style: auto|none|dotted|dashed|solid|double|groove|ridge|inset|outset|initial|inherit;
Outline-color
The outline-color property sets the color of an element’s outline. The color can be set by its name, an RGB value, or a hex value. If absent, the default color will be the current color of the element.
Syntax
outline-color: <color> | invert | inherit;
Example: This example illustrates the Outline property where the color is set to the specific color value and outline style is solid.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
p {
border: solid orange 4px;
outline-style: solid;
outline-color: green;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>GeeksforGeeks</h1>
<h3>Outline Property</h3>
<p>A Computer Science portal for geeks.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Outline-width
Outline-width is used to specify the width of this outline for a specific element. The width of the outline can be set by specifying the size of the width in px, cm, pt, etc, or by using terms like a thin, thick, medium.  If absent then the default width will be the medium.
Syntax:
outline-width: medium|thin|thick|length|initial|inherit;
Outline-offset
Outline-offset Property sets the amount of space between an outline and the edge or border of an element. An outline is a line drawn around elements outside the border edge. The space between the element and its outline is transparent. Also, the outline may be non-rectangular. The default value is 0.
Syntax:
outline-offset: length|initial|inherit;
Example: This example illustrates the Outline property where the offset is set to 3 px and width as 5px..
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
p {
border: solid green 3px;
outline-style: solid;
outline-width: 5px;
outline-offset: 3px;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>GeeksforGeeks</h1>
<h3>Outline Property</h3>
<p>A Computer Science portal for geeks.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
CSS Outline offset and width example
Supported Browsers
The browser supported by CSS Grid Layout Module are listed below.
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