Save 25% on our pro plugins with coupon code: SPRING2023
Web Dev + WordPress + Security

CSS3 Tip: Removing Box Shadows

Adding box shadows is a great way to bring depth and focus to your design. You have probably seen this trick before:

.selector {
	-webkit-box-shadow: 0 3px 5px #333;
	-moz-box-shadow: 0 3px 5px #333;
	box-shadow: 0 3px 5px #333;
	}

Update! Browser support has improved. We now can just write box-shadow: none; to disable box shadow. Jump to the update for more information.

That CSS snippet will add a nice drop shadow to any matching selector. But what if you want to remove the box shadow from one or more of the matched elements? Easy, just declare none for any box-shadow property values:

.selector.noshadow {
	-webkit-box-shadow: none;
	-moz-box-shadow: none;
	box-shadow: none;
	}

Depending on the cascade, you may need to strengthen the .selector with greater specificity. Here we disable the box-shadow from all elements classed with .noshadow. So something like this:

<div class="selector">This box has a shadow</div>
<div class="selector noshadow">This box has no shadow</div>
<div class="selector">This box has a shadow</div>

Update: prefix properties no longer needed

Browser support for box-shadow has matured. The browser-specific properties prefixed with -webkit- and -moz- no longer are required. Now we can add and remove box shadows like so:

.selector {
	box-shadow: 0 3px 5px #333; /* add box shadow */
	}
.selector {
	box-shadow: none; /* remove box shadow */
	}

Cheers people.

Jeff Starr
About the Author
Jeff Starr = Web Developer. Book Author. Secretly Important.
WP Themes In Depth: Build and sell awesome WordPress themes.
Welcome
Perishable Press is operated by Jeff Starr, a professional web developer and book author with two decades of experience. Here you will find posts about web development, WordPress, security, and more »
Digging Into WordPress: Take your WordPress skills to the next level.
Thoughts
There is no end to what humans can achieve when they work together.
Excellent (and free) tool to test your site's SSL configuration.
Plugin updates! All of our free and pro plugins ready for WordPress 6.2.
Daylight savings is a complete waste of time and needs to be eliminated.
Got a couple of snow days here in mid-March. Fortunately it's not sticking.
I handle all email in real time as it comes in, perpetually clear inbox for years now.
Added some nice features to Wutsearch search engine launchpad. Now 21 engines!
Newsletter
Get news, updates, deals & tips via email.
Email kept private. Easy unsubscribe anytime.