Balloon messages in #CSS3 using the pseudo elements ::before/::after

I had lately balloon messages to design for a project. And I didn’t want to go the old approach, using graphics and a whole markup block just to display a single message.

The target

This is what i wanted my balloon message approach to be capable of:

• no graphics – not even for the “speakers corner”, the call out part
  so I search for “how to build triangles in CSS” and found some stuff on that
• no additional markup - transform a single <tag/> with its content to a balloon message
• all CSS(3)

The result

The CSS

			.balloon{
				display:block;
				position:relative;				
				border:1px solid red;
				background:yellow;
				/* ... */
			}
			
			.balloon::after,
			.balloon::before{
				display:block;
				position:absolute;
				z-index:1;
				top:10px;
				left:-20px;
				width:0px;
				height:0px;
				border-style:solid;
				border-width:10px 10px 10px 10px;
				border-color: transparent red transparent transparent ;
				content:' ';
			}
			.balloon::before{
				z-index:2;
				left:-19px;
				border-right-color:yellow;
			}

and here the simple HTML markup

		<p class="balloon">I <3 balloon messages!</p>

And here the DEMO with even more stuff, a whole chat and also how to prepare a tool tip without any JS.

IE8, oh noes

oh yes. Unfortunately this is only working in FF3.5+, SA1.3+, OP9.5+ and CH2+ — but not in IE8. Not yet. Let’s see what IE9 will bring us.

Have a look on sitepoint.com for more info on compatibility.

More on ::before and ::after

More about the pseudo elements :before and :after and how to use them in webdesign you can read on Nicolas Gallaghers blog and about the new notation style ::before and ::after you’ll find here some info.