CSS Outline Style Generator

Focus styles are not decoration—they are critical affordances for keyboard and assistive technology users. Yet many teams struggle to strike the right balance between visible focus and visual noise. This generator helps you craft accessible, attractive outlines and focus rings using outline, outline-offset, andbox-shadow, with a design-token-friendly approach. The descriptive content on this page is server-rendered for SEO and documentation, while the live interactive builder is a small client-only component to keep the runtime lean.

We recommend pairing :focus-visible with semantic tokens for color and size so your styles adapt gracefully across themes. If your brand palette is still in flux, consider using theColor Palette Importer to normalize inputs, then validate contrast in theUI Element Color Auditor andContrast Checker. For component-level previews, visit theReal-Time Theme Preview Sandbox.

Outline vs. box-shadow

Both techniques can produce effective focus rings. Outline draws outside the element’s box and does not affect layout, while box-shadow can be styled more freely and layered with inner/outer rings. A pragmatic pattern uses outline for consistent visibility and box-shadow for polish. For example, an outer outline at 2–3px with a subtle offset plus a soft 4–6px shadow ring can look crisp and meet contrast needs.

Accessibility considerations

• Always respect user preferences like prefers-reduced-motion and avoid animated focus rings that distract. • Ensure sufficient contrast between the focus color and adjacent surfaces. • Use :focus-visible to avoid overwhelming mouse users with permanent focus rings while keeping keyboard focus apparent. •Test at varied densities—condensed UIs and inputs with tight borders may need larger offsets.

Tokenizing focus styles

Expose focus style parts as tokens: --focus-color, --focus-outline-width, --focus-outline-offset, and --focus-ring for shadow recipes. This lets you adjust across themes and accessibility modes without rewriting component CSS. If you use Tailwind, map these tokens to utilities in yourTailwind config so teams can apply focus styles consistently.

Try it: generate a focus outline

Use the builder below to tweak outline width, offset, and color, and to add optional box-shadow rings. You can copy the resulting CSS snippet and tokens. Everything below is client-rendered for responsiveness while the page remains server-rendered for discoverability.

:focus-visible{
  outline: 2px solid #2563EB;
  outline-offset: 2px;
  box-shadow: 0 0 0 6px #2563EB33;
}

Where to use it

Apply focus styles to interactive controls: buttons, links, inputs, toggles, tabs, and menu items. For complex components, test in theTheme Preview Sandbox and validate color choices in theUI States Color Visualizer to ensure hover, active, and disabled remain harmonious.