'How to make a grid (like graph paper grid) with just CSS?

How to make a grid (like graph paper grid) with just CSS? I just want to make a virtual grid paper only using CSS.

htmlcss


Solution 1:[1]

To make grids you can use CSS gradients, which work on all modern browsers (see Caniuse).

Use linear gradients to draw a lined grid:

body {
  background-size: 40px 40px;
  background-image:
    linear-gradient(to right, grey 1px, transparent 1px),
    linear-gradient(to bottom, grey 1px, transparent 1px);
}

Use a radial gradient to draw a grid with dotted corners:

body {
  background-size: 40px 40px;
  background-image: radial-gradient(circle, #000000 1px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 1px);
}

Solution 2:[2]

body {
    background:
        linear-gradient(-90deg, rgba(0,0,0,.05) 1px, transparent 1px),
        linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,.05) 1px, transparent 1px), 
        linear-gradient(-90deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .04) 1px, transparent 1px),
        linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,.04) 1px, transparent 1px),
        linear-gradient(transparent 3px, #f2f2f2 3px, #f2f2f2 78px, transparent 78px),
        linear-gradient(-90deg, #aaa 1px, transparent 1px),
        linear-gradient(-90deg, transparent 3px, #f2f2f2 3px, #f2f2f2 78px, transparent 78px),
        linear-gradient(#aaa 1px, transparent 1px),
        #f2f2f2;
    background-size:
        4px 4px,
        4px 4px,
        80px 80px,
        80px 80px,
        80px 80px,
        80px 80px,
        80px 80px,
        80px 80px;
}

Solution 3:[3]

What you can do is grab a grid image like this one:

Grid PNG

Then tile it with CSS:

#background {
  background: url('path/to/grid-image.png');
}

So yeah, it's not only CSS – you also need the image, but the solution should be quite clean. Here it is in action:

#background {
    width: 200px;
    height: 160px;
    background: url('http://i.stack.imgur.com/GySvQ.png');
}
<div id="background"></div>

Solution 4:[4]

One conic-gradient() can do the job

html {
  background:
    conic-gradient(from 90deg at 1px 1px,#0000 90deg,blue 0) 
    0 0/50px 50px;
}

Solution 5:[5]

Done with png and base64. Scale can be modified with background-size

.square-grid {
  background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACgAAAAoBAMAAAB+0KVeAAAAHlBMVEUAAABkZGRkZGRkZGRkZGRkZGRkZGRkZGRkZGRkZGSH0mEbAAAACnRSTlMAzDPDPPPYnGMw2CgMzQAAAChJREFUKM9jgAPOAgZMwGIwKkhXQSUY0BCCMxkEYUAsEM4cjI4fwYIAf2QMNbUsZjcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=');
  background-size: 15px;
}

.full-size {
  width: 100vw;
  height: 100vh;
}
<div class="square-grid full-size" />

Solution 6:[6]

If you want to get the extra bolder lines of real graph paper and don't mind using ::before and ::after you can do this:

   body {
        position: relative;
        border-radius: 0 !important;
        background-color: #ecefff;
        background-size: 0.5rem 0.5rem;
        background-position:0.25rem 0.25rem;
        background-image:
            linear-gradient(to right, rgba(50, 100, 150, 0.1) 1px, transparent 1px),
            linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(50, 100, 150, 0.1) 1px, transparent 1px);
        margin: 0;
    }
    body::before, body::after {
        content: '';
        position: absolute;
        top: 0;
        left: 0;
        bottom: 0;
        right: 0;
        background-size: 2.5rem 2.5rem;
        background-position:0.25rem 0.25rem;
        background-image:
            linear-gradient(to right, rgba(50, 100, 150, 0.1) 2px, transparent 2px),
            linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(50, 100, 150, 0.1) 2px, transparent 2px);
        z-index: -1;
    }
    body::after {
        background-size: 5rem 5rem;
        background-image:
            linear-gradient(to right, rgba(50, 100, 150, 0.1) 3px, transparent 3px),
            linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(50, 100, 150, 0.1) 3px, transparent 3px);
    }

Example in Chrome in fancybox

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1 mfluehr
Solution 2 mfluehr
Solution 3 mfluehr
Solution 4 Temani Afif
Solution 5
Solution 6 David Airey

Related Questions