Stacking context example 2

Description

This is a very simple example, but it is the key for understanding the concept of stacking context. There are the same four DIVs of the previous example, but now z-index properties are assigned on both levels of the hierarchy.

You can see that DIV #2 (z-index: 2) is above DIV #3 (z-index: 1), because they both belong to the same stacking context (the root one), so z-index values rule how elements are stacked.

What can be considered strange is that DIV #2 (z-index: 2) is above DIV #4 (z-index: 10), despite their z-index values. The reason is that they do not belong to the same stacking context. DIV #4 belongs to the stacking context created by DIV #3, and as explained previously DIV #3 (and all its content) is under DIV #2.

To better understand the situation, this is the stacking context hierarchy:

  • Root stacking context
    • DIV #2 (z-index: 2)
    • DIV #3 (z-index: 1)
      • DIV #4 (z-index: 10)

Note: It is worth remembering that the HTML hierarchy is different from the stacking context hierarchy. In the stacking context hierarchy, elements that do not create a stacking context are collapsed on their parent.

Example

HTML

html

<div id="div1">
  <br />
  <span class="bold">DIV #1</span><br />
  position: relative;
  <div id="div2">
    <br />
    <span class="bold">DIV #2</span><br />
    position: absolute;<br />
    z-index: 2;
  </div>
</div>

<br />

<div id="div3">
  <br />
  <span class="bold">DIV #3</span><br />
  position: relative;<br />
  z-index: 1;
  <div id="div4">
    <br />
    <span class="bold">DIV #4</span><br />
    position: absolute;<br />
    z-index: 10;
  </div>
</div>

CSS

css

div {
  font: 12px Arial;
}

span.bold {
  font-weight: bold;
}

#div2 {
  z-index: 2;
}
#div3 {
  z-index: 1;
}
#div4 {
  z-index: 10;
}

#div1,
#div3 {
  height: 80px;
  position: relative;
  border: 1px dashed #669966;
  background-color: #ccffcc;
  padding-left: 5px;
}

#div2 {
  opacity: 0.8;
  position: absolute;
  width: 150px;
  height: 200px;
  top: 20px;
  left: 170px;
  border: 1px dashed #990000;
  background-color: #ffdddd;
  text-align: center;
}

#div4 {
  opacity: 0.8;
  position: absolute;
  width: 200px;
  height: 70px;
  top: 65px;
  left: 50px;
  border: 1px dashed #000099;
  background-color: #ddddff;
  text-align: left;
  padding-left: 10px;
}

Result

See also