A CSS filter for brightness that softens the appearance of text

When applying filter: brightness(x) to an element, the text inside becomes blurred in Chrome and Firefox. Is this intended behavior? If not, is there a way to resolve this issue? Check out this fiddle for a demonstration:

https://jsfiddle.net/dye2n0xv/

button {
  border: none;
  background: linear-gradient(#53a423, #2f6c04);
  color: #fff;
  font-weight: bold;
  padding: 10px;
}

button:hover {
  filter: brightness(100%);
}
<button>
Some button label
</button>

Hover over the button and observe the text. While using 100% might seem trivial, my actual requirement is around 125%. I chose 100% to ensure that it's not the browser attempting to show a brighter white than normal, which theoretically shouldn't affect the element at all.

csscss-filters

Answer №1

The reason for the difference in text rendering lies in the nature of filters and how they are specified in CSS.

Typically, text (especially on Windows) is displayed using ClearType, which requires a non-transparent background. ClearType utilizes sub-pixel antialiasing to enhance the clarity of text by effectively rendering three "dots" per addressable pixel.

However, when a filter is applied, the engine must generate a bitmap for the element, render the content on it, apply the filter to its pixels, and then display the final bitmap as a whole. Text rendered on this bitmap uses grayscale antialiasing instead of sub-pixel AA, resulting in a slightly blurry appearance.

For more information, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClearType

By considering illustrations on the Wikipedia page, one can understand why ClearType cannot be used in conjunction with color filters.

Answer №2

When you apply a CSS filter to an element, it will affect all of its children, which is normal behavior.

To create the desired effect, separate the text from the background and apply the filter only to the background.

For example:

<button>
<span class="background"></span>
<span class="text">Some button label</span>
</button>

And here is the corresponding CSS:

button {
border: none;
background:none;
}

.text {
border: none;
color: #fff;
font-weight: bold;
padding: 10px;
z-index:1;
position:absolute;
}

.background:hover {
filter: brightness(125%);
}

.background {
width:140px;
height:40px;
background: linear-gradient(#53a423, #2f6c04);  
z-index:0;
position:absolute;
}

Please note that you will need a JavaScript function to ensure the filter works on hover over text due to z-index constraints.

Answer №3

Since the code in question is fairly simple, it is likely that this behavior is standard and not due to any mistake on your part. To avoid this effect, you can easily change the button's background color to a lighter shade when hovered over. This issue may be related to how the filter rendering system handles text blurriness - potentially treating the button as an image rather than recognizing the text within it as such, resulting in a blurring effect by shifting around color values.

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