Now, with the release of Firefox 3.6 (Safari / Webkit supported that a bit earlier) we don’t need any images at all, thanks to the “moz-linear-gradient” / “webkit-gradient” property.

In detail, the buttons use the same code as the buttons from my last example. The only thing we have to change is the background attribute. Instead of using an image, we now add a CSS generated gradient, that gives our button a more plastic look. This is done by using “moz-linear-gradient” respectively “webkit-gradient” for Webkit based browsers. For our buttons, it looks like this:

background:-webkit-gradient(linear,0% 0%,0% 100%,from(rgba(255,255,255,1)),to(rgba(185,185,185,1)));
background:-moz-linear-gradient(top,rgba(255,255,255,1),rgba(185,185,185,1));

This draws a linear gradient from white at the top to a light grey at the bottom. Instead of using the RGBa color values you could also use #Hex codes, as we don’t need any transparency here.

In addition to the previous example I also added an “active / focus” state to the CSS in order to make it feel more like a real button people are used to.

Click here to view the full source code and a live demo.

Update!

This example uses a small background gradient image to achieve the plastic look of the button. Click here for an updated version of the CSS buttons without any images at all.

The main CSS markup

.btn {
	display: inline-block;
	background: url(btn.bg.png) repeat-x 0px 0px;
	padding:5px 10px 6px 10px;
	font-weight:bold;
	text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.5);
	border:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.4);
	-moz-border-radius: 5px;
	-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
	-webkit-border-radius: 5px;
	-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
}

By using RGBa color values, the button and text shadows always blend well with any color we’ll add to our button later on. No matter if we want the button to be green, red or blue. The code above always stays the same.

Using the common hex-values, we would get a result similar to the one on the right when hovering the button.

Adding the color

.blue		{background-color: #CCCCCC; color: #141414;}
.blue:hover	{background-color: #00c0ff; color: #ffffff;}

.green		{background-color: #CCCCCC; color: #141414;}
.green:hover	{background-color: #8aff00; color: #ffffff;}

.red		{background-color: #CCCCCC; color: #141414;}
.red:hover	{background-color: #ff004e; color: #ffffff;}

This is where we define the different color variations. All we need to change is the text- and background color along with the mouseover/hover values. To change the color of a button, just attach the corresponding class to the main button class.

Click here for a live demo.