border Attribute | border Property

Internet Development Index

Sets or retrieves the properties to draw around the object.

Syntax

HTML { border : sBorder }
Scriptingobject.style.border [ = sBorder ]

Possible Values

sBorderString that specifies or receives one or more of the following space-delimited values:
widthAny of the range of width values available to the borderWidth property.
styleAny of the range of style values available to the borderStyle property.
colorAny of the range of color values available to the borderColor property.

The property is read/write. The property has a default value of medium none. The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) attribute is not inherited.

Expressions can be used in place of the preceding value(s), as of Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5. For more information, see About Dynamic Properties.

Remarks

The border property is a composite property that sets the width, style, and color values for all four sides of an object.

You must specify a style when specifying a width or color; otherwise, the border does not render.

All individual border properties not set by the composite border property are set to their default values. For example, the default value for width is medium.

The setting border=thin is identical to border=thin?SPAN CLASS="clsLiteral">none; the default value for the border color is the same as the text color if one is not initially set. So, not only does the property set width to thin, it also clears any style or color values previously set.

Setting a border to zero or omitting the attribute causes no border to be displayed. Supplying the border attribute without a value defaults to a single border.

As of Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.5, this property applies to inline elements. With earlier versions of Internet Explorer, inline elements must have an absolute?A HREF="../properties/position.html">position or layout to use this property. Element layout is set by providing a value for the height property or the width property.

If a color is not specified, the text color is used.

For more information about supported colors, see the Color Table.

Examples

The following examples use the border attribute and the border property to specify the composite border properties.

This example uses a call to an embedded (global) style sheet to modify the border attribute.

<HEAD>
<STYLE>
.applyBorder { border:0.2cm groove orange }
.removeBorder { border:none }
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<TABLE BORDER>
<TR>
<TD onmouseover="this.className='applyBorder'"
onmouseout="this.className='removeBorder'">
<IMG src="sphere.jpg"></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
This feature requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the following icon to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

This example uses inline scripting to modify the border property.

<TD onmouseover="this.style.border='0.2cm groove pink'">
This feature requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. Click the following icon to install the latest version. Then reload this page to view the sample.

Standards Information

This property is defined in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Non-Microsoft link and is defined in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 1 (CSS1) Non-Microsoft link.

Applies To

A, ACRONYM, B, BDO, BIG, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BUTTON, CAPTION, CENTER, CITE, CODE, CUSTOM, DD, defaults, DEL, DFN, DIR, DIV, DL, DT, EM, EMBED, FIELDSET, FONT, FORM, FRAME, hn, I, IMG, INPUT type=button, INPUT type=checkbox, INPUT type=file, INPUT type=image, INPUT type=password, INPUT type=radio, INPUT type=reset, INPUT type=submit, INPUT type=text, INS, ISINDEX, KBD, LABEL, LI, LISTING, MARQUEE, MENU, NOBR, OBJECT, OL, P, PLAINTEXT, PRE, Q, runtimeStyle, S, SAMP, SMALL, SPAN, STRIKE, STRONG, style, SUB, SUP, TABLE, TD, TEXTAREA, TH, TT, U, UL, VAR, XMP

See Also

CSS Enhancements in Internet Explorer 6