Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

CSS CSS Basics (2014) Basic Layout Styling the "Wildlife" div with Background Properties

Task 4's wording doesn't make sense to me.

I understand I need to use background-size, but I don't know what it's asking me to do. I'm being asked to "maintain proportion"- proportion to what? I feel like I need to be looking at an actual website to understand what I am doing/what I am being asked to do.

style.css
/* Complete the challenge by writing CSS below */

.wildlife {
  background: url(img/bear.jpg) no-repeat;
  background-position: center;
  background-size: 100%;

}
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Lake Tahoe</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="page.css">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
  </head>
  <body> 
        <div class="primary-content t-border">
            <p class="intro">
                Lake Tahoe is one of the most breathtaking attractions located in California. It's home to a number of ski resorts, summer outdoor recreation, and tourist attractions. Snow and skiing are a significant part of the area's reputation.
            </p>
            <a class="callout" href="#more">Find out more</a>
      <div class="wildlife">
        <h2>Check out all the Wildlife</h2>
        <p>
          As spawning season approaches, the fish acquire a humpback and protuberant jaw. After spawning, they die and their carcasses provide a feast for gatherings of <a href="#mink">mink</a>, <a href="#bears">bears</a>, and <a href="#eagles">bald eagles</a>.
        </p>
      </div><!-- End .wildlife -->
            <a class="callout" href="#wildlife">See the Wildlife</a>
        </div><!-- End .primary-content -->
  </body>
</html>

5 Answers

Ron McCranie
Ron McCranie
7,837 Points

Maintain proportion means that the ratio of width to height stays the same. If the image is 300x600 (1:3 ratio) then you can scale it to 100x300 or 600x1800 and that maintains proportion.

I used cover as the value.

/* Complete the challenge by writing CSS below */
.wildlife { 
  background: url('img/bear.jpg') no-repeat center;
  background-size: cover;
}

I tried putting in a pixel value but just capitulated and copied your answer. As far as I could tell we weren't given the original image's size, so how could we put in any answer other than cover?

Jason Anders
MOD
Jason Anders
Treehouse Moderator 145,860 Points

Hey David, In the challenge, you are being asked to "Set a value that will display the full image while maintaining the width and height proportions."

In a nutshell, it wants you to fill the entire 'container' using the image, but not 'stretching' the image or 'oversizing' the image.

The value "cover" accomplishes this for you without have to do a whole bunch of math.

Hope that clears things up a bit. If not, go back and watch the previous video starting at about 2:30 to refresh.

Jason

Ron McCranie
Ron McCranie
7,837 Points

That's the point of contain & cover values. You don't necessarily know what your image size will be when you design so you tell the css to make the image as big as it can to fit in the element (responsive) without changing the proportions.

Ahhhhhhhh. Less back-tracking.

"Doing the math" was what I thought I had to do, which is why I was confused by the question because it seemed like I was lacking information. I forgot about what the cover value does.