How to add an image to a custom CSS button

Question

I have the following button HTML code:

<button class="button" style="width: 95%;">PHYSICIANS</button>

It is customized by CSS3 here:

button {
    border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.3);
    background: #eee;
    color: #515151;
    font-size: 24px;
    font-weight: 700;
    padding: 21px 34px;
    text-decoration: none;
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left bottom, left top, color-stop(0.21, rgb(203,203,203)), color-stop(0.58, rgb(227,226,226)));
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(center bottom, rgb(203,203,203) 21%, rgb(227,226,226) 58%);
    -moz-border-radius: 5px;
    -webkit-border-radius: 5px;
    border-radius: 5px;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 5px rgba(255,255,255,0.3) /* glass edge */, inset 0 1px 0 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.5) /* top highlight */, inset 0 -3px 0 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5) /* bottom shadow */;
    -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0 5px rgba(255,255,255,0.3), inset 0 1px 0 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.5), inset 0 -3px 0 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 5px rgba(255,255,255,0.3), inset 0 1px 0 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.5), inset 0 -3px 0 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
    text-shadow: 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.6);
}
button::-moz-focus-inner, a.button::-moz-focus-inner {
    padding:0;
    border:0;
}
button:hover, a.button:hover {
    background: #cbcbcb;
    cursor: pointer;
}
button:active, a.button:active {
    background: #ccc;
    padding: 22px 34px 20px;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 5px rgba(255,255,255,0.3), inset 0 -1px 0 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.5), inset 0 2px 5px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
    -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0 5px rgba(255,255,255,0.3), inset 0 -1px 0 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.5), inset 0 2px 5px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 5px rgba(255,255,255,0.3), inset 0 -1px 0 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.5), inset 0 2px 5px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
    text-shadow: none;
}

Which displays the following button:

How can I modify the above code, so I can add a thumbnail image to it. Something like this:

The default image size is 260X190 but I want to size it up so it fits inside the button.

Answer 1

You can use the pseudo-element :before to do this.

See this working demo I made: http://jsfiddle.net/A7UsX/1/

button:before {
    content: " ";
    display: inline-block;
    background: url("http://www.wdc.com/Global/images/icons/icon_supporthelp.gif") no-repeat;
    height: 30px;
    width: 50px;
}

I have made a red background to show you what I did. Change the background to the image you would like and change the height and width to your likings.

Answer 2

you could use :before pseudo element.

button:before{content: ' '; display:inline-block;  position:absolute; content:url(http://lorempixel.com/25/25); }

I'll suggest you to use a SVG image rather than using jpg or png format. so in this case you can call the image using background-image and give a positioning too.

button:before { content:''; display:inline-block; height:1em; width:1em; 
background-image:url('images/image.svg'); background-size:contain; background-repeat:no-repeat;  } 

here you can check the working Demo. http://jsbin.com/damujidi/1/edit

Answer 3

You can add a <i> as commonly used in bootstrap [ ref1 ] [ ref2 ].

<button class="button">
    <i class="btnbg"></i>PHYSICIANS
</button>

CSS:

.btnbg {
    background-image: url('http://i.stack.imgur.com/QgIOj.png');
    background-position: bottom left;
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-size: contain;
    display: inline-block;
    height: 35px;
    line-height: 35px;
    vertical-align: middle;
    width: 70px;
}

.button {
    line-height: 35px;
    vertical-align: middle;
}

see jsFiddle