AnyTool
Your files never leave your device. All processing happens locally in your browser.

How do I generate CSS text-shadow code?

The Text Shadow Generator builds a CSS text-shadow value from stacked layers — each with an offset-x, offset-y, blur radius and colour — with a live preview, one-tap neon-glow / long-shadow / 3-D / outline effects, copy-CSS and PNG export. It runs 100% in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

What is

CSS text-shadow

text-shadow is a CSS property that paints one or more shadows behind text. Each shadow is written as “offset-x offset-y blur-radius? color?”, and multiple shadows are given as a comma-separated list applied front-to-back (the first-listed shadow sits on top). A negative offset-x moves the shadow left; a negative offset-y moves it up; blur-radius must be zero or positive. Layering shadows creates neon glows, hard long shadows, 3-D extrudes and a faux outline.

Web Design

Related terms

text-shadowoffset-x / offset-yblur-radiusneon text glow-webkit-text-strokebox-shadow

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Your layers, colours and sample text are serialised into a text-shadow value entirely on your device — nothing is uploaded, and there is no server or CDN in the processing path.

Everything is 100% client-side. The tool holds each shadow as plain numbers (offset-x, offset-y, blur) plus a colour string and serialises the comma-separated text-shadow value right in your browser tab — no input is ever sent to a server, and there is no CDN in the processing path. You can copy just the value or a full rule, and the optional PNG is drawn on an in-page canvas, so it works offline once the page is cached.

Stack several shadows of the same bright colour at zero offset with increasing blur radii (for example 4px, 11px, 19px, 40px). The tighter copies form a crisp core and the wide ones the glow.

A neon glow is layered text-shadows: take one vivid colour and add several copies at offset 0 0 with growing blur radii — small blurs on top for a sharp core, large blurs beneath for the halo. This tool’s “Neon glow” effect builds that stack for you from a single colour, and it reads best on a dark background. Keep it to short headings: many blurred layers on a lot of text are CPU-heavy.

No. text-shadow is decoration, not contrast. Legibility comes from the text and background colours; this tool shows the live WCAG contrast and warns when it drops below 3:1.

A drop shadow can help text stand off a busy photo, but it does not fix low contrast between the text and its background — and heavy blur actively hurts legibility on body copy. WCAG asks for at least 3:1 for large text and 4.5:1 for normal body text. The generator computes the real text-vs-background contrast live and warns you when it falls below the 3:1 minimum, so you treat the shadow as styling and fix colour contrast separately.

Not truly. You can approximate an outline with four 1px hard shadows at the top, bottom, left and right, but a real stroke uses -webkit-text-stroke.

text-shadow cannot stroke a glyph’s edge directly. The common trick — which this tool’s “Outline” effect generates — places four zero-blur shadows of one colour at ±1px in the four cardinal directions so they ring the letters. It works for light text on a busy background but can look chunky at large sizes or thick widths; for a precise outline use the -webkit-text-stroke property instead.

Detailed Explanation

Methodology

How the Text Shadow Generator Builds a Value

CSS text-shadow paints one or more shadows behind text. Each shadow is written as “offset-x offset-y blur-radius? color?”, and multiple shadows form a comma-separated list applied FRONT-TO-BACK — the first-listed shadow sits on top. This generator’s engine (textShadowEngine.ts) holds the effect as a typed list of layers (each an offset-x, offset-y, blur and a colour string with optional alpha) and serialises the exact comma-separated value the spec defines, so the preview and the copied CSS always match. Blur is clamped to zero or positive because the spec forbids negative blur.

  • Each layer: offset-x, offset-y, blur-radius, colour (with optional alpha)
  • Multiple shadows paint front-to-back — the first-listed shadow is on top
  • Negative offset-x moves the shadow left; negative offset-y moves it up
  • blur-radius must be ≥ 0; the engine clamps it
  • Pure and deterministic — the same layers always emit the same value
Use Cases

Neon Glow, Long Shadow, 3-D and Outline

The real looks people want are all layered stacks, and the tool synthesises them from one colour. A NEON glow stacks copies of one bright colour at offset 0 with growing blur radii (small on top for a crisp core, large beneath for the halo) — best on a dark background. A LONG shadow and a 3-D EXTRUDE stack many hard, zero-blur offsets along a 45° ramp so heavy fonts read as chunky depth. An OUTLINE places four zero-blur shadows at ±1px in the four cardinal directions to ring the letters — a cheap stand-in for a real stroke.

  • Neon glow = one colour, offset 0 0, increasing blur radii layered
  • Long shadow / 3-D = stacked hard (zero-blur) offsets along a 45° ramp
  • Outline = four ±1px zero-blur shadows in the cardinal directions
  • Presets seed soft-drop, neon, cyan neon, retro-80s, emboss and inset looks
Limitations

A Shadow Is Decoration, Not Contrast

text-shadow styles text; it does not make low-contrast text legible. Legibility comes from the contrast between the text colour and its background, and heavy blur on body copy actively harms it. The tool computes the real WCAG text-vs-background contrast live and warns when it drops below the 3:1 large-text minimum (normal body text wants 4.5:1), so the shadow is treated as styling while colour contrast is fixed separately. Keep body-text shadows subtle (blur under ~3px) and reserve large glows for short headings.

  • WCAG asks for ≥3:1 for large text and ≥4.5:1 for normal body text
  • A drop shadow does not fix low text/background contrast
  • The tool reports live contrast and warns below 3:1
  • Keep body-text blur under ~3px; big glows suit short headings only
Technical Details

Performance and Rendering Caveats

Blurred text-shadows are CPU-heavy: the browser blurs the glyph shapes and alpha-composites the result between the text and its background, so large blurs across a lot of text — or ANIMATING text-shadow — can cause jank and slow scrolling. Best practice is to cap layers at roughly three to five, keep blur radii modest, and animate transform/opacity instead of the shadow itself. Blur rendering also differs slightly between engines, and older Safari and Opera cap blur at roughly 100px (this tool clamps the slider at 100px), so verify large glows on real devices.

  • The browser blurs glyphs and alpha-composites them — blur is CPU-heavy
  • Cap layers at ~3–5 and keep blur radii modest for body text
  • Animate transform/opacity, not text-shadow, for smooth motion
  • Blur rendering varies by engine; older Safari/Opera cap blur ~100px
Privacy & Security

Private by Design

Everything happens on the user’s device. The layers, colours and sample text are just numbers and strings serialised into a text-shadow value locally in the browser tab — there is no server call and no CDN in the processing path. Nothing is uploaded, logged or stored; the CSS is plain text copied to the clipboard, and the optional PNG export is rendered on an in-page canvas and saved straight from the browser. The tool works offline once loaded.

  • Layers and colours are serialised into CSS entirely in the browser
  • No upload, no CDN in the processing path, no server, no tracking
  • Output is plain CSS text copied locally; PNG is drawn on a local canvas
  • Works offline after first load; nothing is stored server-side
text-shadow vs box-shadow vs -webkit-text-stroke
PropertyWhat it shadows / drawsBest for
text-shadowShadows the text glyphs (and text-decoration)Glows, long shadows, 3-D text, faux outline
box-shadowShadows the element’s rectangular boxCards, buttons, elevation, neumorphism
-webkit-text-strokeStrokes the glyph outline preciselyA true, even text outline / hollow text
Blur costHigh (glyph blur + alpha compositing)Keep blur modest; cap layers at 3–5
AnimationJanky if animated directlyAnimate transform/opacity instead

text-shadow has universal modern-browser support; a true outline uses -webkit-text-stroke (well supported but vendor-prefixed). The four-shadow outline trick approximates a stroke and can look chunky at large sizes. As of July 2026.