CSS Border Radius – How to Create Perfect Rounded Elements

Rounded corners make interfaces look smoother and friendlier. The border-radius property in CSS lets you create this effect easily. It is one of the simplest yet most useful properties for UI designers and developers.

Basic Usage

The easiest way to use border-radius is by adding a single value. It makes all four corners rounded equally.

.element {
  border-radius: 25px;
}

This gives your element soft, uniform corners that fit almost any modern design.

Creating Circles

If you want a perfect circle, use border-radius: 50%;. It works best when your element has equal width and height.

.circle {
  border-radius: 50%;
}

This is ideal for avatars, icons, or any rounded UI component.

Elliptical and Complex Shapes

You can use two or four values to control each corner differently. This allows for more creative designs.

.ellipse {
  border-radius: 10px 40px;
}

.complex {
  border-radius: 60px 70px 40px 140px;
}

Each value changes the curve of the corresponding corner, letting you build unique shapes that stand out.

Percentage-based Radius

border-radius also accepts percentage values. This can be used to create soft transitions between square and circular shapes.

.rounded {
  border-radius: 30%;
}

It’s great for responsive layouts where fixed pixel values don’t always look right.

Practical Tips

• Combine border-radius with background colors, gradients, or shadows to emphasize depth.
• Keep corner radii consistent across your UI for a clean and professional look.
• Test percentage-based radii on different screen sizes to ensure visual balance.

Conclusion

The border-radius property is a small but powerful tool for improving your UI design. It helps create visual harmony and modern aesthetics with minimal code.

If you need to quickly create shapes with custom rounded corners, we built a css border-radius generator for you.