A plain-language romp through the trials and tribulations of z-indexby Isabel Brison. On the surface, z-index seems simple. It’s a number and it represents what is on top of what… assuming it is positioned… and assuming it is within the same stacking context as the other things.
… that is the gist of it: stacking contexts are caused by a variety of properties and the main reasons for their existence are performance concerns and ease of implementation by browsers. They are not always related to z-index or ordering; they pop up wherever it makes sense to have several elements all on the same layer for rendering purposes.
