css - Two color borders

Question

Client wants two color borders for an embossed look. Can I do this on one element? I was hoping to avoid stacking two DOM elements with individual borders.

Answer 1

Yep: Use the outline property; it acts as a second border outside of your border. Beware, tho', it can interact in a wonky fashion with margins, paddings and drop-shadows. In some browsers you might have to use a browser-specific prefix as well; in order to make sure it picks up on it: -webkit-outline and the like (although WebKit in particular doesn't require this).

This can also be useful in the case where you want to jettison the outline for certain browsers (such as is the case if you want to combine the outline with a drop shadow; in WebKit the outline is inside of the shadow; in FireFox it is outside, so -moz-outline: 0 is useful to ensure that you don't get a gnarly line around your beautiful CSS drop shadow).

.someclass {
  border: 1px solid blue;
  outline: 1px solid darkblue;
}

Edit: Some people have remarked that outline doesn't jive well with IE < 8. While this is true; supporting IE < 8 really isn't something you should be doing.