Section dividers can take your website design to the next level. Additionally, taking advantage of Divi and its built-in design options can save you a lot of time by not requiring image editing software to add unique design elements to your pages.
One of those creative approaches is using section dividers to create background textures for your website. The best way to learn how to do this is practicing. Which is why in this post weβll recreate a stunning example, which you can see below, but start off by sharing some elements that are crucial to making this concept work.
Letβs get to it!
Result
Before diving into the tutorial, letβs take a quick look at what weβll be recreating on different screen sizes.
On Desktop
On Tablet
On Mobile
Alternative Divider Style #1
You can use various section dividers for this example. Weβll show you two additional ones, in the same design, that look amazing. This is the first:
Alternative Divider Style #2
And this is the second alternative:
How to Creatively Use Section Dividers to Create Background Textures with Divi
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What You Need to Know
- To make this work, the first thing youβll need to keep in mind is having zero bottom padding for the first section and zero top padding for the second
- The rows need zero top and bottom padding as well
- This will remove all of the space between the sections and rows and will allow section dividers to collide
- The section dividers will also need a higher value for the divider height and horizontal repeat
- This depends on your design preferences and how much you want the section dividers to come through
- Weβre using semi-transparent colors for the section dividers to make sure they donβt overpower the colors youβre using for your modules
- To allow section dividers to come through, your column background colors or gradient backgrounds will need certain transparency as well
Create Section #1
Section Settings
Background Color
Letβs start with the first standard section. The first thing youβll need to do, after adding this section, is giving it β#2f2542β as its background color.
Gradient Background
On top of the background color, weβll also use a gradient background. Weβre combining a background color and a gradient background because of the first semi-transparent color weβre using for the gradient background. Itβll allow both colors to combine. Use the following settings:
- First Color:Β rgba(96,165,165,0.55)
- Second Color:Β #2f2542
- Gradient Type: Linear
- Gradient Direction: 150deg
- Start Position: 0%
- End Position: 37%
Bottom Divider
Move on to the Design tab of this section and apply a section divider immediately:
- Divider Style: Find in List
- Divider Color:Β rgba(109,52,93,0.35)
- Divider Height: 300px
- Divider Horizontal Repeat: 5px (Desktop), 2px (Tablet & Phone)
Spacing
Weβre going to continue by changing the spacing of this section. As mentioned before, weβll definitely need to have zero padding for the bottom of this section to help remove the distance between this section and the row weβll add in the upcoming steps. These are the padding values weβre using:
- Top: 65px (create space between theΒ top of the section and row weβll add in the upcoming steps)
- Right: 0px
- Bottom 0px (removes space between row and section at the bottom of the section)
- Left: 0px
Add a New Row
Column Structure
Now that weβre done with the section settings, weβre going to add a row to it. The column structure weβre using is the following:
Gradient Background
Weβre using a gradient background with transparent colors for this row. This allows us to make the section dividers come through:
- First Color:Β rgba(255,255,255,0)
- Second Color:Β rgba(109,52,93,0.56)
- Gradient Type: Linear
- Gradient Direction: 40deg
- Start Position: 62%
- End Position: 91%
Column 1 Gradient Background
Scroll down your row settings and add a gradient background to your first column as well. In the next step, weβll combine this gradient background with a column background image:
- First Color:Β #60a5a5
- Second Color:Β #44335d
- Column 1 Gradient Type: Linear
- Column 1 Gradient Direction: 141deg
- Column 1 Start Position: 0%
- Column 1 End Position: 78%
Column 1 Background Image
Now add a background image of choice to your first column and make sure the Column 1 Background Image Blend is set to βMultiplyβ. This will combine the background image and the gradient background weβve chosen in the previous step. The background image will only appear on desktop, later on this post, weβll add an Image Module with the same image to appear on tablet and phone.
Sizing
Then, move on to the Design tab, open the Sizing subcategory and apply the following settings to it:
- Use Custom Width: Yes
- Custom Width: 1700px
- Use Custom Gutter Width: Yes
- Gutter Width: 1 (removes the space between columns)
- Equalize Column Heights: Yes (makes sure the columns are equally in height)
Spacing
Continue by opening the Spacing subcategory and adding β0pxβ to all of the padding options. This, in combination with a zero bottom padding for the section, will make sure thereβs no distance left between the row and bottom of the section.
Rounded Corners
Weβre also going to add some rounded corners of β50pxβ to the top left and top right corners.
Box Shadow
Lastly, weβll choose the first option within the Box Shadow subcategory without changing anything about it.
Add Image Module to Second Column
Upload Image
Now that our row settings are done, we can start adding and modifying modules. The first module weβre going to add to the second column is an Image Module. This Image module is meant to show up on tablet and phone only. For desktop, we have the column background weβve added in the previous steps.
Opacity
To make sure the section divider combines with the image, weβre going to change the opacity of this Image Module to β40%β.
Visibility
Lastly, weβre going to disable this Image Module on desktop.
Upload Text Module #1 to Second Column
Text Settings
Right below the Image Module youβve created, add a Text Module and use the following settings for the Text subcategory:
- Text Font Weight: Ultra Bold
- Text Font Style: Capitals
- Text Size: 40px (Desktop & Tablet), 30px (Phone)
- Text Color:Β #85e2db
- Text Line Height: 1em
- Text Orientation: Center
Spacing
To create some space between the Image Module and this Text Module, weβll also add β100pxβ to the top margin of this Text Module.
Upload Text Module #2 to Second Column
Text Settings
Right below the previous Text Module, add another Text Module with the following text settings:
- Text Font Weight: Regular
- Text Font Style: Uppercase
- Text Size: 30px
- Text Color: #FFFFFF
- Text Line Height: 1em
- Text Orientation: Center
Spacing
Weβll add some top margin of β20pxβ to this Text Module next.
Upload Text Module #3 to Second Column
Text Settings
The last Text Module for this column contains a description and uses the following text settings:
- Text Color: #dddddd
- Text Orientation: Left or Center (depending on your preferences)
Sizing
Next, open the Sizing subcategory of this Text Module and make the following changes:
- Width: 55%
- Module Alignment: Center
Spacing
Weβll create some distance between this Text Module, the previous one and the bottom of the row as well by applying the following custom margin:
- Top: 50px
- Bottom: 100px
Create Section #2
Section Settings
Gradient Background
Right below the previous section, weβre going to add another standard section with the following gradient background (no background color needed in this case):
- First Color:Β #2f2542
- Second Color:Β #6d345d
- Gradient Type: Linear
- Gradient Direction: 166deg
- Start Position: 38%
- End Position: 100%
Top Divider
The next step is adding a top divider. Weβre going to use almost the same settings as for the previous bottom section divider. The only thing that differs is the color:
- Divider Style: Find in List
- Divider Color:Β rgba(96,165,165,0.18)
- Divider Height: 300px
- Divider Horizontal Repeat: 5px (Desktop), 2px (Tablet & Phone)
Spacing
Definitely make sure you remove the top padding of this section as well:
- Top: 0px
- Right: 0px
- Bottom: 68px
- Left: 0px
Clone Row of Previous Section & Place in New Section
Weβre going to save ourselves some time by just cloning the row weβve used in the previous section and placing it in this new section.
Change Gradient Background
Weβll need some changes to this row, though. One of the things weβll need to change is the row gradient background:
- First Color:Β rgba(255,255,255,0)
- Second Color:Β rgba(96,165,165,0.27)
- Gradient Type: Linear
- Gradient Direction: 219deg
- Start Position: 74%
- End Position: 100%
Remove Column 1 Gradient Background & Background Image
As you can notice in the example print screen, the modules in the second row are on the opposite side. The first thing weβll need to do to make that work is removing the first column gradient background and background image.
Add Column 2 Gradient Background
Instead, weβre going to add the gradient background and background image to the second column. Start by adding the following gradient background:
- First Color:Β #44335d
- Second Color:Β rgba(109,52,93,0.72)
- Column 2 Gradient Type: Linear
- Column 2 Gradient Direction: 109deg
- Column 2 Start Position: 0%
- Column 2 End Position: 100%
Add Column 2 Background Image
Go to the Background Image tab, upload your background image and make sure you use βMultiplyβ as the image blend to combine the background image with the gradient background.
Change Rounded Corners
The rounded corners of this row are located at the bottom left and right instead of top left and right.
Place Existing Modules in Column 1
Weβll also need to place all of the existing columns in the first column instead of the second one by dragging them there one by one.
Change Image for Image Module
Lastly, change the image within your Image Module, and youβre done!
Alternative Section Divider #1
Change Bottom Section Divider of Section #1
To make use of the first alternative section divider, youβll need to change the Divider Style into the following one (which you can find on the list):
Change Top Section Divider of Section #2
Choose the same one for the top section divider of the second section.
Alternative Section Divider #2
Change Bottom Section Divider of Section #1
The second alternative uses the following divider style:
Change Top Section Divider of Section #2
Again, apply this to the top section divider of the second section as well:
Result
Now that weβve gone through all the steps letβs take a final look at the result on different screen sizes.
On Desktop
On Tablet
On Mobile
Alternative Divider Style #1
Alternative Divider Style #2
Final Thoughts
In this tutorial, weβve shown you a creative way to use section dividers to create background textures for your sections. Besides showing you how to recreate the stunning example above from scratch, weβve also provided some key elements to making this method work on any design you want to create. If you have any questions or suggestions, make sure you leave a comment in the comment section below!
Nice post
Great Tips. Thanks
Great post! Thank you!
Excellent! Where do you get such design ideas for inspiration? I did not even suspect that Divi had such opportunities. Thank you!
Great start from me.
where do you find the divider styles to use in the first place?
Is there something to download to include them?
Thanks
Amazing tutorial and the color you used are amazing. Great textures and you also mentioned color Hex codes as well. Which again very useful.
How do I get these tutorials emailed to me?
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WOW!!! Thanx for the inspiration!
Possibly the first interesting post I’ve read here for design. Good job!
Rob your site has several alignment issues on iPad.