using :before and after elements with regular shadows cut of by overflow:hidden on the parent box like in this example: http://dabblet.com/gist/2585782
CSS
/**
* Top and Bottom inset shadow
*/
#element{
background-color: #E3F2F7;
height: 55px;
position: relative; /* to position pseudo absolute*/
overflow: hidden; /* to cut of overflow shadow*/
margin-top: 200px;
}
#element:before , #element:after{
content: "\0020";
display: block;
position: absolute;
width: 100%;
height: 1px; /* when 0 no shadow is displayed*/
box-shadow: #696c5c 0 0 8px 0;
}
#element:before { top: -1px} /* because of height: 1*/
#element:after { bottom: -1px} /* because of height: 1*/
To have the shadow in one direction you have to negate the "blur" parameter with the "spread" parameter and then adjust the "h-pos" and/or "v-pos" parameters by this same value.
It doesn't work with opposite border or triple border. You have to add one more definition.
I just had this problem myself. The solution that I found was with multiple box-shadows (one for each side that you want your shadow). Here is the definition:
box-shadow: none|h-offset v-offset blur spread color |inset|initial|inherit;
Here is how to think it:
first, make the spread 0 (this will disable the effect on all sides)
the h-offset (if you set it to be positive, it will cast on the left side, if you set it negative, on the right side)
the v-offset (if you set it to be positive, it will cast on the top side, if you set it negative, on the bottom side
Here you can see my case with box-shadow on three sides (left, top, right and the bottom is with same color as the background to create the effect that I wanted - the left side and the right go all the way to the bottom)
https://codepen.io/cponofrei/pen/eMMyQX