Why reinvent the wheel designing elements that already have free designs online? Blockquotes remain a staple of text-heavy websites and they come in so many distinct styles.
I’ve curated my top picks for the best free blockquotes you can find. Every one of these designs uses pure CSS code so they’re easy to replicate.
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Circular Quote
Perhaps the most unique and stylish quote of this entire post is this literature circular quote.
It rests on a bright orange background so this may not be practical for your typical layout. But with some minor color adjustments it would look nice on a white background regardless of the layout.
The most spectacular part is that every element is created with pure CSS including the rounded circle pattern. It’s a truly pragmatic blockquote that also pushes the boundaries of CSS.
BQ Patterns
For tamer examples check out these blockquote patterns created by developer Derek Wheelden.
This again relies purely on CSS3 with different classes for each blockquote. The last of the 3 has the footer element to cite the quote source. It’s an optional feature that some people like, certainly not necessary for a simple website though.
It goes to show how much you can achieve with unique fonts and some minor CSS tweaks.
Notepaper
It might be hard to believe but this notepaper blockquote is created entirely with CSS3 code. No background images, no vectors, just CSS gradients and transforms.
I can’t say how many people would find this design useful. It’s a fantastic notecard that really does replicate the style of paper. But regardless of how it can be used, this design is beyond incredible and it proves how far CSS has come.
The HTML is fully semantic with modern blockquotes and this should work in all modern browsers. A magical use of web technology if I’ve ever seen it.
Classy Blockquotes
Sometimes it makes sense to include a photo of the person being quoted. This may sound tough but you can clone these blockquotes by Andrew Wright to get this effect on your site.
Andrew’s pen uses placeholders for images so they do look a little… basic. But there’s nothing to stop you from changing some colors, updating the fonts, and adding a photo to spice up your quotes.
A very simple design and pretty easy to restyle on your own.
Simple Block
This is by far my favorite blockquote because it really can work on any website. Developer Harm Putman uses the cite attribute from the blockquote to populate a citation at the bottom.
I really like the dividing bars that clearly separate the blockquote from the rest of the content. This includes a small quotation mark icon fixed in the middle to let the user know this is a clearly a quote.
Sleek, elegant, and simple. Three traits that work well in any website.
Greyed Block
For a darker approach check out this greyed blockquote that can double as a pullquote if resized.
It has a pretty clean design using Font Awesome blockquotes and lively text. I think it’d look a lot better with a stronger font but it’s certainly legible with anything you use.
I consider this as a solid “base” for building on top of and styling your own blockquote from there.
Automatic Quotes
This design by Luke Watts is more of a pullquote than a blockquote. The quoted text pulls to the side of the body text, but it still draws attention with bright colors and quotation marks.
It’s called an automatic quote because it adds the quote marks into the design via CSS. So you can just wrap your text in the proper tag and it’ll automatically style it with quotations. Pretty sweet!
However as a blockquote this would be fairly basic. I think this works best as a pull quote and does its job well.
Raised Blockquote
You can do a lot with CSS box shadows to create depth and clarity. This raised blockquote by Lukas Dietrich is pretty simple and real easy to clone.
It has one background color and a pretty clear box shadow near the bottom. This also uses a custom Google font called Bitter for the upright quotation marks.
If you have a darker layout or if you’re willing to adjust the drop shadow a bit then this quote style can fit almost any web project.
Alternating Quotes
These alternating quotes by Tommy Hodgins prove that you don’t need much to create fantastic blockquotes.
By adding a small grey border to one side you separate the text from the rest of the page. It will clearly stand out against the page body which and makes browsing any page a whole lot easier.
Plus the alternating styles let you add these with any orientation you like.
Material Design Blockquote
Last but not least I found this cool material blockquote using similar colors and styles from Google’s material design rules.
The background icon is what really makes this stand out and feel like a true blockquote. I do think the font color is a tad light, but this can always be adjusted for use in your own website.
This is the coolest material-style blockquote you’ll find and it’s totally free.
All of these blockquote styles are fantastic but certainly not the only ones. You can find many more online with lots of variety to pick from. So if you’re looking to browse more check out the blockquote tag on CodePen to see what else is out there.
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