Making Static Noise From a Weird CSS Gradient Bug

This article explores a quirky CSS gradient bug that creates a static noise effect, similar to old TV screens with poor reception. While not a production-ready technique, it's a fun CSS experiment.

The author notes that better methods exist (SVG, Canvas, filters), but this approach leverages a gradient's poor anti-aliasing. The "trick" involves manipulating conic and radial gradients with extremely small color stop values, creating a grainy texture. The effect is heavily browser-dependent; Chrome, Edge, and Firefox are recommended.

The article demonstrates how subtle adjustments to gradient values dramatically alter the visual output. By using tiny decimal values (e.g., 0.0001%), the gradient itself becomes almost invisible, leaving only the grainy noise. Further randomization is achieved by scaling the gradient and adjusting its position. Combining gradients with background-blend-mode refines the effect.

Several applications are showcased:

• Animated "No Signal": A CSS animation subtly shifts the gradient's position, simulating flickering static.
• Grainy Image Filter: The noise is applied as a pseudo-element, blended with an image using mix-blend-mode: overlay for a vintage effect. CSS filters enhance this further.
• Grainy Text: The technique is applied to text, using background-clip to confine the effect to character boundaries.
• Generative Art: Experimenting with gradient values yields unexpected, almost generative art-like patterns.

The article concludes by emphasizing that this method is primarily for experimentation and fun, not for production use due to its instability and browser inconsistencies. Readers are encouraged to explore variations and share their results.

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