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CSS Image Sprites
An image sprite is a collection of images put into a single image
Image Sprites
An image sprite is a collection of images put into a single image.
A web page with many images can take a long time to load and generates multiple server requests.
Using image sprites will reduce the number of server requests and save bandwidth.
Image Sprites - Simple Example
Instead of using three separate images, we use this single image ("img_navsprites.gif"):
With CSS, we can show just the part of the image we need.
In the following example the CSS specifies which part of the "img_navsprites.gif" image to show:
Example
#home
{
width: 46px;
height: 44px;
background: url(img_navsprites.gif) 0 0;
}
<img id="home" src="img_trans.gif"> - Only defines a small transparent image
because the src attribute cannot be empty. The displayed image will be the background image we specify in CSSwidth: 46px; height: 44px; - Defines the portion of the image we want to usebackground: url(img_navsprites.gif) 0 0; - Defines the background image and its position (left 0px, top 0px)This is the easiest way to use image sprites, now we want to expand it by using links and hover effects.
Image Sprites - Create a Navigation List
We want to use the sprite image ("img_navsprites.gif") to create a navigation list.
We will use an HTML list, because it can be a link and also supports a background image:
Example
#navlist {
position: relative;
}
#navlist li {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
list-style: none;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
}
#navlist li, #navlist a {
height: 44px;
display: block;
}
#home {
left: 0px;
width: 46px;
background: url('img_navsprites.gif')
0 0;
}
#prev {
left: 63px;
width: 43px;
background: url('img_navsprites.gif') -47px 0;
}
#next {
left: 129px;
width: 43px;
background: url('img_navsprites.gif')
-91px 0;
}
Now start to position and style for each specific part:
Image Sprites - Hover Effect
Now we want to add a hover effect to our navigation list.
Tip: The :hover selector can be used on all elements,
not only on links.
Our new image ("img_navsprites_hover.gif") contains three navigation images and three images to use for hover effects:
Because this is one single image, and not six separate files, there will be no loading delay when a user hovers over the image.
We only add three lines of code to add the hover effect:
Example
#home a:hover {
background: url('img_navsprites_hover.gif') 0 -45px;
}
#prev a:hover {
background: url('img_navsprites_hover.gif') -47px
-45px;
}
#next a:hover {
background: url('img_navsprites_hover.gif') -91px
-45px;
}
Example explained: