Question

I don’t understand why, but an inset box shadow is beneath my content.

Here’s an example:

div {
   box-shadow:inset 0 0 10px black;
   height:300px;
   color:red;
}

<div>
   a
</div>

http://jsfiddle.net/MAckM/

You see the a is on top of the box shadow.

How can I get the box shadow to be on top of the a?

Answer 1

You need to make a new element inside the div, with absolute positioning and height and width of 100%, then give that element the box shadow.

div {
    height: 300px;
    color: red;
    position: relative;
}

div > div {
    box-shadow: inset 0 0 10px black;
    position: absolute;
    pointer-events: none;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
}

<div>
    <div></div>
    Sample text
</div>

Alternatively, you can use a pseudo-element:

div {
    height: 300px;
    color: red;
    position: relative;
}

div:before {
    content: '';
    box-shadow: inset 0 0 10px black;
    position: absolute;
    pointer-events: none;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
}​

<div>
    Sample text
</div>​