Did you know you can embed SVG inline of CSS using a custom property?
:root {
--arrow: url('data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 16 16"><path d="M4 8a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h5.793L8.146 5.354a.5.5 0 1 1 .708-.708l3 3a.5.5 0 0 1 0 .708l-3 3a.5.5 0 0 1-.708-.708L10.293 8.5H4.5A.5.5 0 0 1 4 8"/></svg>');
}
The SVG can be reused and recoloured to match the current colour:
button::after {
background: currentColor;
mask: var(--arrow) center center / 100% auto no-repeat;
content: "";
display: block;
height: 1rem;
width: 1rem;
}
The key to this technique is using mask instead of background-image. This allows you to change colours and even transition!
See my CodePen demo for an interactive example and my original blog post for further details of this technique.
Happy coding!
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