CSS Text Shadow Generator (Multi-Layer)
Color
CSS text-shadow takes a comma-separated list of shadows, and the trick to neon, 3D-text, outline, and long-shadow effects is stacking 2-20 layers of different offsets, blurs, and colors. This tool lets you build that stack visually: per-layer x/y/blur/color sliders, a live preview on any background, and six presets (subtle, glow, neon, 3D, outline, long-shadow) you can tweak from. Output is plain text-shadow CSS — paste into any stylesheet.
text-shadow: 0px 0px 12px rgba(56,189,248,0.85); font-size: 72px; font-weight: 700; color: #ffffff;
How to use
- Type your preview text and pick font size, weight, text color, and background.
- Pick a preset to start, then click a layer chip and drag the x/y/blur sliders or change the color string.
- Click + Add to add more layers, copy the CSS, and paste into your stylesheet.
Frequently asked questions
- How does the outline preset work?
- It stacks four 0-blur shadows at the four diagonal corners (±1px, ±1px). This is the cheapest way to fake an outline in CSS — `text-stroke` is the real solution but still has spotty support outside WebKit.
- Why does the neon preset use four layers?
- A convincing neon glow needs at least 3 layers: a sharp inner white core, a medium blur in the accent color, and a wider soft halo. The 4th layer extends the halo further. Fewer layers look flat; more than 5 just slow paint without adding much.
- Are rgba colors supported?
- Yes — any CSS color value works in the color field: hex (#fff), rgb(), rgba(), hsl(), hsla(), oklch(), and named colors. Soft shadows usually need alpha < 1 to read as 'glow' rather than 'paint smudge'.
- Will deep layer stacks hurt performance?
- Each layer is a separate compositing operation, so 20+ blurred shadows on a large headline can cost a few ms per paint. For body copy it's fine; for huge hero text, watch for paint warnings in DevTools.
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