Crafting Dynamic Shadows with CSS

Mastering Elemental Elegance

In creating a shadow akin to box-shadow but derived from the element’s own colors, I employed the ::after pseudo-element technique.

<div class="dynamic-shadow"></div>

.dynamic-shadow {
  position: relative;
  width: 10rem;
  height: 10rem;
  background: linear-gradient(75deg, #6d78ff, #00ffb8);
  z-index: 1;
}

.dynamic-shadow::after {
  content: '';
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  position: absolute;
  background: inherit;
  top: 0.5rem;
  filter: blur(0.4rem);
  opacity: 0.7;
  z-index: -1;
}

This involved setting its position as absolute and dimensions to 100% to ensure it fills the parent element.

By utilizing background: inherit, the pseudo-element inherited the background of its parent. A slight offset was applied using the top property.

The desired shadow effect was achieved through the application of filter: blur() for blur and adjusting opacity for semi-transparency.

To position the shadow appropriately, z-index: 1 was assigned to the parent element and z-index: -1 to the pseudo-element, ensuring it remains behind its parent visually.

Happy coding!