Display Images as Grayscale with CSS Filters
CSS filters aren't yet widely supported but they are indeed impressive and a modern need for web imagery. CSS filters allow you to modify the display of images in a variety of ways, one of those ways being displaying images as grayscale.
Doing so requires the most minimal of CSS:
img.bw {
filter: grayscale(1);
}
You can even animate an image to or from grayscale:
img.bw {
filter: grayscale(0);
}
img.bw.grey {
filter: grayscale(1);
transition-property: filter;
transition-duration: 1s;
}
CSS filters allow much more than just grayscale adjustments, so if you haven't taken the time, please play around with my CSS filter sandbox. Remember that if the user chooses to download the image, it is downloaded in its original colored displays, but for online display purposes, CSS filters do the trick!
![fetch API]()
One of the worst kept secrets about AJAX on the web is that the underlying API for it, XMLHttpRequest, wasn't really made for what we've been using it for. We've done well to create elegant APIs around XHR but we know we can do better. Our effort to...
![Chris Coyier’s Favorite CodePen Demos]()
David asked me if I'd be up for a guest post picking out some of my favorite Pens from CodePen. A daunting task! There are so many! I managed to pick a few though that have blown me away over the past few months. If you...
![CSS Vertical Center with Flexbox]()
I'm 31 years old and feel like I've been in the web development game for centuries. We knew forever that layouts in CSS were a nightmare and we all considered flexbox our savior. Whether it turns out that way remains to be seen but flexbox does easily...
![JavaScript Speech Recognition]()
Speech recognition software is becoming more and more important; it started (for me) with Siri on iOS, then Amazon's Echo, then my new Apple TV, and so on. Speech recognition is so useful for not just us tech superstars but for people who either want to work "hands...
I knew about CSS filters, but what always restrained me to use them is that they’re limited to Webkit/Blink browsers. Firefox supports just the url syntax.
Many designers love them and for a reason. I just wish they were more widely supported.
I cant find the difference between the 3 images. All images seems to be the same color! Is this a browser problem (firefox) or i don’t see it?
Yes, it doesn’t display the CSS filters effect in Firefox and also Opera… Hopefully it will be cross-browser in the future.
I haven’t used css filters so far and this article fits perfectly for a design I want to implement.
Thanks so much, great stuff
Is there a Firefox workaround for this?
Grayscale is even better appreciated when used in action. It works perfectly on latest version of Chrome and firefox as seen on http://www.myweeblytricks.com/2014/09/weebly-tricks-72-grayscale-image.html
Unfortunately it does not work in IE11.
Check this, it worked for me perfectly: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grayscale-black-white-col/cjimlckjgclgboeebpjlipmokolejppk?hl=en (Chrome only) Using this app I can convert any web page to black & white color scheme.