The DXImageTransform Filters
browser wars 1998 deadPhotoshop effects as CSS properties, five years before anyone else had any.
In 2026: Dead: removed in IE10. Some of it was genuinely ahead of its time, drop shadows and gradients and rotation years before the standards caught up, and some of it was a wave filter that made your headings ripple.
Where it came from: Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 and 5.5 visual filters, MSDN, 1998 and 2000. Wikipedia ↗
<style>
/* Opacity, before opacity */
.faded { filter: alpha(opacity=50); -moz-opacity: 0.5; opacity: 0.5; }
/* Gradient, before gradients */
.bar {
filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(
startColorstr='#FFFF0000', endColorstr='#FF0000FF');
}
/* Drop shadow, before box-shadow */
.card { filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Shadow(
color='#808080', Direction=135, Strength=4); }
/* Glow, and the one everybody regrets */
.hot { filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Glow(color=#FFFF00, strength=6); }
.wavy { filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Wave(
add=0, freq=3, lightstrength=20, phase=0, strength=4); }
/* The genuinely useful one: alpha PNGs in IE6, which had none */
.logo { filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(
src='https://xbawx.com/inc/img/demo/logo.png', sizingMethod='image'); }
</style>
<!-- The 2026 version -->
<style>
.faded { opacity: .5 }
.bar { background: linear-gradient(#f00, #00f) }
.card { box-shadow: 4px 4px 0 #808080 }
.hot { text-shadow: 0 0 8px #ff0 }
</style>