Blending mode
A blending mode is a compositing rule that mathematically combines foreground and backdrop color channels to produce a resulting color.
CSS in Depth, Second Edition
A blend mode is a compositing operation that determines how foreground colors combine with colors in an underlying layer.
- How it is used
- Applies stacked backgrounds or elements to colorize images, add texture, and create visual interest.
- How deep it goes
- Explains layer order, pixel compositing, 15 modes, and worked CSS examples, while leaving formula details to mode selection.
- Examples
- Uses bear images, blue tinting, grayscale canvas texture, and a blended Ursa Major heading.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via CSS background-blend-mode and mix-blend-mode to build image composites, tints, textures, and layered typography.
Read how CSS in Depth, Second Edition explains blending mode →
Math for Web Design
A blend mode is a rule that mathematically combines source and backdrop color channels to produce a composited color.
- How it is used
- Uses mathematical color rules to create layered visual effects in CSS.
- How deep it goes
- Explains normalized channel calculations, pixel overlap, stacking contexts, and CSS properties, while leaving individual mode formulas largely summarized.
- Examples
- Demonstrates darken on an image over red and layered background blending with multiply and screen.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via CSS using mix-blend-mode or background-blend-mode and predict whether common modes darken or lighten layers.
Related concepts
- CSSuses · CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a stylesheet language for specifying the presentation and layout of structured documents and user interfaces.
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