CSS Box Shadow Generator

Free CSS Box Shadow Generator

Creating the perfect shadow is essential for modern UI design. Our advanced CSS Box Shadow Generator allows developers and designers to easily craft complex, multi-layered shadows. Whether you need a crisp Material Design elevation, a soft modern floating card, or inset neumorphism, this tool generates cross-browser compatible code instantly.

How to Use the Generator

• Start with a Preset: Click one of the quick-action buttons at the top (like Soft UI or Floating Card) to establish a high-quality baseline.
• Add Multiple Layers: Modern shadows rarely use just one layer. Click + Add to stack a tight ambient shadow with a wide, soft diffuse shadow for realistic depth.
• Adjust the Environment: Change the preview background to light, dark, or transparent to see how your shadow reacts, and tweak the border-radius slider to match your application's cards or buttons.
• Export your Code: Choose your preferred output format from the dropdown menu. We support standard CSS, Tailwind arbitrary values, SCSS mixins, and CSS Variables.

Pro Design Tips for Shadows

Amateur shadows often look muddy or harsh because they rely on a single, heavy layer of pure black. To create professional, elegant depth:

• Lower the opacity, increase the blur: Soft, barely-there shadows look much cleaner than harsh ones. Try an opacity between 0.05 and 0.15.
• Layering is key: Use one tight shadow with a low blur (e.g., 4px) to represent the object touching the surface, and a second shadow with a massive blur (e.g., 30px) to represent ambient light scattering.
• Tint your shadows: Instead of using pure black (#000000), tint your shadow to match the background color slightly. A dark blue-gray shadow looks much more natural on a cool-toned interface.

What is CSS Box Shadow?

The box-shadow CSS property adds shadow effects around an element's frame. You can set multiple effects separated by commas. A box shadow is described by X and Y offsets relative to the element, blur and spread radii, and color.

Box Shadow Syntax Explained

• Inset: (Optional) Changes the shadow from an outer shadow (outset) to an inner shadow.
• Offset-X: Specifies the horizontal distance. Positive values move the shadow to the right, negative to the left.
• Offset-Y: Specifies the vertical distance. Positive values move the shadow down, negative move it up.
• Blur-Radius: The larger this value, the bigger and lighter the shadow becomes. It cannot be negative.
• Spread-Radius: Positive values cause the shadow to expand and grow bigger, negative values cause it to shrink.
• Color: Defines the shadow's color. RGBA is most commonly used to allow for transparency.

Common CSS Shadow Examples

Different UI trends require different shadow approaches:

• Soft Card Shadow: A very diffuse, low-opacity shadow (e.g., 0 10px 40px rgba(0,0,0,0.08)). Ideal for clean, minimalist dashboards.
• Material Shadow: Follows Google's strict elevation guidelines, usually requiring two distinct shadow layers to simulate realistic directional lighting.
• Neumorphism: Uses two box-shadows on an element whose background matches the page background. One shadow is light (top-left) and the other is dark (bottom-right), making the element look extruded from the surface itself.