Question

I would like to get a gradient in CSS (perhaps through Compass) that works in every major browser, including IE7+. Is there an easy way to do this (without writing a lot of code, and without a custom image file)?

I looked at Compass’s gradient mixin, but it does not work with Internet Explorer.

Any ideas? (It does not need to be Compass — I am happy install something else.)

Edit: What I am trying to get is some framework (like Compass?) that generates code like what Blowsie posted that’s been tested across browsers. Basically like the Compass gradient mixin I mentioned, but with IE support. (I am a bit wary of just rolling my own SCSS mixin and pasting in blocks like Blowsie’s code, because I haven’t tested it and do not have the resources to do so.)

Answer 1

I just noticed that the current Compass beta (0.11.beta.6) has support for generating IE gradients in the compass/css3/images module (which supersedes the previous gradient module), so you can generate your gradients with a total of two short commands:

@import "compass/css3/images";
@import "compass/utilities/general/hacks";  /* filter-gradient needs this */

.whatever {
  /* IE; docs say this should go first (or better, placed in separate IE-only stylesheet): */
  @include filter-gradient(#aaaaaa, #eeeeee);
  /* Fallback: */
  background: #cccccc;
  /* CSS 3 plus vendor prefixes: */
  @include background(linear-gradient(top, #aaaaaa, #eeeeee));
}

This generates the following slew of CSS:

.whatever {
  *zoom: 1;
  -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(gradientType=0, startColorstr='#FFAAAAAA', endColorstr='#FFEEEEEE')";
  filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(gradientType=0, startColorstr='#FFAAAAAA', endColorstr='#FFEEEEEE');
  background: #cccccc;
  background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 50% 0%, 50% 100%, color-stop(0%, #aaaaaa), color-stop(100%, #eeeeee));
  background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #aaaaaa, #eeeeee);
  background: -o-linear-gradient(top, #aaaaaa, #eeeeee);
  background: linear-gradient(top, #aaaaaa, #eeeeee);
}

I guess I would have preferred to have the IE and non-IE gradient code in one call, but since IE’s DXImageTransform gradient function is pretty limited, that is probably not possible.