There are many Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), but only certain attributes can be applied as CSS to SVG. Presentation attributes are used to style SVG elements and can be used as CSS properties. Some of these attributes are SVG-only while others are already shared in CSS, such as font-size or opacity .

For example, to change the color of a element to red, use the fill property in CSS. The fill attribute is a presentation attribute, therefore it can be used as a CSS property:

circle { fill: red; }

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So, with that, let’s take a deep and thorough dive into all of the SVG elements that are available to us as well as the CSS properties for them. We’ll also look at various styling approaches, including general presentational styles and animations.

The presentation attributes that can be used as CSS properties can be found below. For reference, supported elements will be classified by category. This does not include deprecated elements. Element Type Elements Container elements <a>

<defs>

<g>

<marker>

<mask>

<pattern>

<svg>

<switch>

<symbol> Filter primitive elements <feBlend>

<feColorMatrix>

<feComponentTransfer>

<feComposite>

<feConvolveMatrix>

<feDiffuseLighting>

<feDisplacementMap>

<feFlood>

<feGaussianBlur>

<feImage>

<feMerge>

<feMorphology>

<feOffset>

<feSpecularLighting>

<feTile>

<feTurbulence> Gradient elements <linearGradient>

<radialGradient>

<stop> Graphics elements <circle>

<ellipse>

<image>

<line>

<path>

<polygon>

<polyline>

<rect>

<text>

<use> Shape elements <circle>

<ellipse>

<line>

<path>

<polygon>

<polyline>

<rect> Text content elements <text>

<textPath>

<tspan>

Font properties Presentation attribute Supported elements font Text content elements font-family Text content elements font-size Text content elements font-size-adjust Text content elements font-stretch Text content elements font-style Text content elements font-variant Text content elements font-weight Text content elements Text properties Presentation attribute Supported elements direction <text>

<tspan> letter-spacing Text content elements text-decoration Text content elements unicode-bidi Text content elements word-spacing Text content elements writing-mode <text> Masking properties Presentation attribute Supported elements overflow <foreignObject>

<image>

<marker>

<pattern>

<svg>

<symbol> Interactivity properties Presentation attribute Supported elements cursor Container elements

Graphics elements Color properties Presentation attribute Supported elements color Applies to elements using:

fill

stroke

stop-color

flood-color

lighting-color Visibility properties Presentation attribute Supported elements display Graphics elements

Text content elements

<a>

<foreignObject>

<g>

<svg>

<switch> visibility Graphics elements

Text content elements

Text properties Presentation attribute Supported elements alignment-baseline <textPath>

<tspan> baseline-shift <textPath>

<tspan> dominant-baseline Text content elements glyph-orientation-horizontal Text content elements glyph-orientation-vertical Text content elements kerning Text content elements text-anchor Text content elements Clip properties Presentation attribute Supported elements clip <foreignObject>

<image>

<marker>

<pattern>

<svg>

<symbol> clip-path Container elements

Graphics elements clip-rule <clipPath> Masking properties Presentation attribute Supported elements mask Container elements

Graphics elements opacity Graphics elements

<a>

<defs>

<g>

<marker>

<pattern>

<svg>

<switch>

<symbol> Filter effects Presentation attribute Supported elements enable-background Container elements filter Container elements

Graphics elements flood-color <feFlood> flood-opacity <feFlood> lighting-color <feDiffuseLighting>

<feSpecularLighting> Gradient properties Presentation attribute Supported elements stop-color <stop> stop-opacity <stop> Interactivity properties Presentation attribute Supported elements pointer-events Graphics elements Color properties Presentation attribute Supported elements color-profile <image> referring to raster image Painting properties Presentation attribute Supported elements color-interpolation Container elements

Graphics elements color-interpolation-filters Filter primitive elements color-rendering Container elements

Graphics elements fill Shape elements

Text content elements fill-rule Shape elements

Text content elements fill-opacity Shape elements

Text content elements image-rendering <image> marker <line>

<path>

<polygon>

<polyline> marker-start <line>

<path>

<polygon>

<polyline> marker-mid <line>

<path>

<polygon>

<polyline> marker-end <line>

<path>

<polygon>

<polyline> shape-rendering Shape elements stroke Shape elements

Text content elements stroke-dasharray Shape elements

Text content elements stroke-dashoffset Shape elements

Text content elements stroke-linecap Shape elements

Text content elements stroke-linejoin Shape elements

Text content elements stroke-miterlimit Shape elements

Text content elements stroke-opacity Shape elements

Text content elements stroke-width Shape elements

Text content elements text-rendering <text>

While presentation attributes can be used as CSS properties to style SVG, what about controlling the coordinates and dimensions of SVG elements using CSS? SVG 2, which is in Candidate Recommendation at the time of this writing, makes it is possible to style and animate these properties. The SVG 2 specification states: Some styling properties can be specified not only in style sheets and ‘style‘ attributes, but also in presentation attributes. These are attributes whose name matches (or is similar to) a given CSS property and whose value is parsed as a value of that property.” Not only does it mean that SVG properties can be styled using CSS as presentation attributes or in style sheets, but this also can be applied to CSS pseudo-classes such as :hover or :active . SVG 2 also introduces more presentation attributes that can be used as styling properties. These attributes can be found in SVG 2 specification.

It is important to note that not every SVG element will support the same CSS properties. Much like how there are CSS properties that can be applied to certain SVG elements, there are specific properties that are supported by certain SVG elements. For example, the or elements support the cx and cy properties as coordinates of the center of the shape. The element also supports the rx and ry properties as the radius, but the element cannot use these properties. Geometry properties In SVG 2, properties such as rx and ry are defined as geometry properties. Geometry properties can be used as CSS properties, just like presentation attributes such as fill or stroke properties. These CSS properties and the corresponding SVG elements include: SVG Element Geometry Property <circle> cx

cy

r <ellipse> cx

cy

rx

ry <rect> rx

ry

height

width

x

y <path> path <image> height

width

x

y <foreignObject> height

width

x

y <svg> height

width

x

y

SVG 2 also makes it is possible to position SVG elements using CSS. Let’s begin with drawing a rectangle shape having the following SVG: <svg width="170" height="170"> <rect x="10" y="10" width="150" height="150" /> </svg> And the following CSS: rect { fill: #6e40aa; } CodePen Embed Fallback This will produce a rectangle shape with its coordinates set to 10, 10. With SVG 2, x and y can be applied as CSS properties: /* This will work with SVG 2 */ rect { x: 10; y: 10; ... } The SVG code would be reduced to this: <svg width="170" height="170"> <rect width="150" height="150" /> </svg> You can even set the width and height for the <rect> element using CSS like so: rect { ... width: 150px; height: 150px; ... } That leaves us with just the following for SVG markup: <svg width="170" height="170"> <rect /> </svg> CodePen Embed Fallback At the time of writing, the following demos will work in Blink (e.g. Chrome and Opera) and WebKit (e.g. Safari) browsers as these browsers support SVG 2 features. Until then, let’s dive into how to override SVG properties using CSS.

The element can be overridden with CSS to create shape morphing. The SVG paths that morph one into the other must have the same commands and same number of points or else the morphing will not work. Let’s start with drawing a element in the shape of a triangle. Using the d property will specify the shape of the element: <svg height="220" width="300"> <path d="M150 10 L40 200 L260 200Z" /> </svg> To get the triangle to morph into a different shape, let’s override the SVG element with the d property with CSS: path { d: path("M150, 10 L40, 200 L260, 200Z"); fill: #4c6edb; } Let’s also add a :active pseudo-class to the property so when the element is clicked, the shape will morph into a square and change its fill color. Let’s also add a transition property to make the shape morphing action appear smooth. Here is the CSS: path:active { d: path("M150, 10 L40, 200 L260, 200 L260, 200Z"); fill: #4c6edb; transition: all 0.35s ease; } And the SVG would be: <svg height="220" width="300"> <path /> </svg> CodePen Embed Fallback Want another demo? Here is a cool demo from Chris Coyier demonstrating SVG shape morphing on hover! CodePen Embed Fallback

SVG properties can be animated using CSS through CSS animations and transitions. In this demo, we will draw various SVG elements and create a wave animation. Start by drawing five elements: <svg width="350" height="250"> <circle class="shape" /> <circle class="shape" /> <circle class="shape" /> <circle class="shape" /> <circle class="shape" /> </svg> We’ll be using CSS variables and :nth-child() CSS pseudo-class to define each .shape class. The .shape class will have a cy of 50 and a r of 20. Each of the .shape classes will have their own cx and fill CSS properties set: :root { --color-1: #6e40aa; --color-2: #4c6edb; --color-3: #24aad8; --color-4: #1ac7c2; --color-5: #1ddea3; } .shape { cy: 50; r: 20; } .shape:nth-child(1) { cx: 60; fill: var(--color-1); } .shape:nth-child(2) { cx: 120; fill: var(--color-2); } .shape:nth-child(3) { cx: 180; fill: var(--color-3); } .shape:nth-child(4) { cx: 240; fill: var(--color-4); } .shape:nth-child(5) { cx: 300; fill: var(--color-5); } Here is how it should look so far. CodePen Embed Fallback Now it’s time to animate! Start by using @keyframes rule to define the moveCircle animation: @keyframes moveCircle { 50% { cy: 150; r: 13; } } This will get each element to change their cy coordinates from 50 to 150 and r from 20 to 13. Add the following to the CSS to the .shape class get the animation running infinitely: .shape { ... animation: moveCircle 1250ms ease-in-out both infinite; } Finally, add an animation-delay to each of the .shape classes to the CSS with the exception of .shape:nth-child(1) like this: .shape:nth-child(2) { ... animation-delay: 100ms; } .shape:nth-child(3) { ... animation-delay: 200ms; } .shape:nth-child(4) { ... animation-delay: 300ms; } .shape:nth-child(5) { ... animation-delay: 400ms; } CodePen Embed Fallback Shapes in SVG <pattern> elements can also be animated using CSS. Here is a cool demo by Dudley Storey showcasing that! CodePen Embed Fallback

Wrapping up

As SVG 1.1 is the current standard, few browsers currently support SVG 2 features. It is not recommended to put these techniques into production yet. SVG 2 implementation is currently at Candidate Recommendation stage, thus support for styling SVG geometry properties with CSS should improve in the future.