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Poetry Of Code
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5 Hidden CSS Properties You Didn't Know Existed

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are the backbone of web design, allowing developers to style and format web pages with ease. While most developers are familiar with the common CSS properties like color, font-size, and margin, there are numerous lesser-known properties that can add functionality to your designs. In this article, uncover five CSS properties that you may not have known existed, but which can significantly enhance your web development projects.

1. Text-decoration

.menu__list-link:hover {
  text-decoration: underline 2px solid green;
}
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text-decoration
Turn out for the classic text-decoration: underline you can add 3 more parameters. First is the width of the line (2px), second is the type of line (solid, dotted) and the third is the color for this line (green).

2. Text-underline-offset

.menu__list-link:hover {
  text-decoration: underline 2px solid green;
  text-underline-offset: 6px;
}
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Text-underline-offset

Text-underline-offset
It is very handy. Solve problem that occur pretty often, when some letters go below the line height and during hover effect underline interrupts by those letters. Pretty good solution to create offset from text to underline (6px).

3. Inset

For positioning relative, absolute, and others we often write top, right, bottom, left:

  top: 5px;
  right: 3px;
  bottom: 1px;
  left: 4px;
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to speed up the process of writing we can write above in a shorter version with the property inset:

inset: 5px, 3px, 1px, 4px;
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4. Object-position

We often apply to the image object-fit: cover - it will crop the image to a specified height & width in order to look sharp:

object-fit: cover

But we can't control which part of the image it will crop. So it is where object position comes into play.

.test {
  height: 350px;
  width: 500px;
  object-fit: cover;
  object-position: bottom;
}
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object-position: bottom

object-position: top;
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object-position: top

As well as we can add: left or right. Or even can be more precise when we specify 2 parameters like object-position: center bottom;

5. Scroll margin top

By default, when we link to section on the page <a href="#fairy-tale__inner">Itinery</a> it will bring exactly to the top of that section.

Scroll margin top

But if we want to make space we need to use scrool-margin-top

#fairy-tale__inner {
  scroll-margin-top: 100px;
}
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Scroll margin top

So go ahead, dive into the world of hidden CSS properties, and elevate your designs to the next level!

Top comments (44)

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schemetastic profile image
Schemetastic (Rodrigo)

Really cool post!

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

Glad you loved Rodrigo!
Which one you like the most?

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schemetastic profile image
Schemetastic (Rodrigo)

scroll-margin-top I think... because I use smooth scroll and that property seems very useful for that... and object-fit with object-position seems very useful for certain type of backgrounds where you need more control than background-size: cover

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

Good point, scroll-margin-top works together with scroll-behavior: smooth;

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schemetastic profile image
Schemetastic (Rodrigo)

See ya in a next post I hope ๐Ÿ˜‰

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

100%

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schemetastic profile image
Schemetastic (Rodrigo) • Edited

Hey, then, the next time you make an interesting post write me at my Instagram @schemetastic or email me hello@schemetastic.com. So I don't miss it.

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

Sure

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mexikode profile image
MexiKode โš™

I would add the "all" property that lets you reset styles and remove browser styling.
Other interesting props:
Aspect ratio
Font Variant
Isolation
Contain

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

_Those are fantastic additions! _
Thanks

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masudalimrancasual profile image
Masud Al Imran • Edited

Thanks to text-underline-offset I wont have to write this anymore.

border-bottom: **
padding-bottom:**
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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

These small improvements, make our lives easier.

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miialainen profile image
Miia

I really needed the scroll-margin-top ! I solved it in another way but this is very useful to know!

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

It's fantastic to hear that scroll-margin-top came in handy for you!

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kmsaifullah profile image
Khaled Md Saifullah

Great post....๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

Glad to hear that you loved it.

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shorifulislam00 profile image
Md. Shoriful Islam

thats really awesome

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

It's great to hear you're enjoying it.

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faridsa profile image
farid

Thanks, scroll-margin-top is totally new to me

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

It's always exciting to discover new CSS tricks

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devsk001 profile image
Dev Sk

Cool ๐Ÿ˜Ž

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code
  • Glad you think so!
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efpage profile image
Eckehard

5 ? There are at least 500 I do not know exist... The question is, how to find them when needed.

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

You're absolutely right! Keep exploring, and you'll be amazed at what you find!

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borzoomv profile image
Borzoo Moazami

Usefull properties, thank you ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป

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poetryofcode profile image
Poetry Of Code

I'm glad you found the properties helpful