CSS background-position not working in Mobile Safari (iPhone/iPad)

Asked 6/7, 2010 at 4:16 Answered 13/1, 2015 at 9:44

I have an issue with background-position in mobile safari. It works fine on other desktop browsers, but not on iPhone or iPad.

body {
 background-color: #000000;
 background-image: url('images/background_top.png');
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 background-position: center top;
 overflow: auto;
 padding: 0px;
 margin: 0px;
 font-family: "Arial";
}

#header {
 width: 1030px;
 height: 215px;
 margin-left: auto;
 margin-right: auto;
 margin-top: 85px;
 background-image: url('images/header.png');
}

#main-content {
 width: 1000px;
 height: auto;
 margin-left: auto;
 margin-right: auto;
 padding-left: 15px;
 padding-right: 15px;
 padding-top: 15px;
 padding-bottom: 15px;
 background-image: url('images/content_bg.png');
 background-repeat: repeat-y;
}

#footer {
 width: 100%;
 height: 343px;
 background-image: url('images/background_bottom.png');
 background-position: center;
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

Both "background_top.png" and "background_bottom.png" are shifted too far to the left. I've googled around, and as far as I can tell, background-position IS supported in mobile safari. I've also tried every combination of keywords ("top", "center", etc.), px, and %. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Update: here's the markup in the .html file, which displays the design & layout fine in other browsers: (I also updated the above css)

<html lang="en">
 <head>
  <title>Title</title>
  <link rel="Stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles.css" />
 </head>
 <body>
  <div id="header"></div>
  <div id="main-content"></div>
  <div id="footer"></div>
 </body>
</html>

Both background images are very wide (~2000px) so as to take up space on any sized browser.

P.S. I know that there's probably a few more efficient CSS shortcuts I could be using, but for now I like having the code organized like I have it for visibility.

Hesperian answered 6/7, 2010 at 4:16 Comment(0)

The iPhone/Webkit browser cannot center align background images when placed in the body tag. The only way around this is to remove the background image from your body tag and use an additional DIV as a wrapper.

#wrapper {
 background-color: #000000;
 background-image: url('images/background_top.png');
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 background-position: center top;
 overflow: auto;
}


<html lang="en">
 <head>
  <title>Title</title>
  <link rel="Stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles.css" />
 </head>
 <body>
  <div id="wrapper">
    <div id="header"></div>
    <div id="main-content"></div>
    <div id="footer"></div>
  </div>
 </body>
</html>

Meraree answered 27/2, 2011 at 17:28 Comment(0)

It'll work with

background-position-x: 50%;
background-position-y: 0%;

and still add

background-position: center top;

for other browsers.

Barium answered 22/8, 2013 at 11:3 Comment(0)

Apparently, when you "scroll" on an iPhone / iPad, you're not scrolling the page in the same way as you do in a desktop browser. What you're doing is more like moving the whole page within a viewport. (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm using the wrong terminology here.)

This means that background-position: fixed is still "supported" but has no real effect, since the whole page is moving within the viewport rather than the page content scrolling within the page.

International answered 6/12, 2010 at 16:35 Comment(1)

Did you mix up background-position and background-attachment? – Hybridize 17/5, 2018 at 4:3

Create a wrapper ID to place in the body, then include the following CSS:

#background_wrap {
    z-index: -1;
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    height: 100%;
    width: 100%;
    background-size: cover;
    background-image: url('../images/compressed/background-mobile.png');
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-attachment: scroll;
}

Just ensure that none of your content goes within the div otherwise the whole page will be fixed with no scrolling.

Brathwaite answered 13/1, 2015 at 9:44 Comment(0)

I have this problem and I'm addressing it by getting rid of my fixed footer using a separate style as mentioned here: How to target CSS for iPad but exclude Safari 4 desktop using a media query?

Adrenaline answered 19/1, 2011 at 19:19 Comment(0)

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