finally. (usual disclaimer: i don't know what i'm doing)
i'm completely skipping the basics because css basics are so hard BUT you know what's harder? SHADOWS. i somewhat learned the basics but not well enough to make a post about it SO logically my only option is properly learning the basics later and figuring out shadows right now. so, without further ado:
there's two properties for shadows: box-shadow (which makes box shaped shadows) and text-shadow (which makes shadows specifically for text, so text shaped).
box-shadow needs five values: horizontal offset, vertical offset, blur radius, spread distance, and color.
text-shadow needs four values: horizontal offset, vertical offset, blur radius, and color.
horizontal offset is how much the shadow is going to be dislocated to the right. if the value is negative, the shadow dislocates to the left.
vertical offset is how much the shadow is going to be dislocated downwards. if the value is negative, the shadow dislocates upwards.
blur radius is how defined/sharp the shadow is, with 0 being the sharpest possible (so higher = more blurry/less sharp). this value is optional; if you don't specify it, it's considered as zero.
spread distance is basically how big the shadow is. the higher the number, the bigger the shadow. this value is optional; if you don't specify it, it's considered as zero.
these first four values can be given in pixels (px), and the next one, the color, can be a hex code or similar
color is the color of the shadow (golly gee who would have thunk). it is also optional.
the values for box-shadow should be written in that order 1) horizontal offset, 2) vertical offset, 3) blur radius, 4) spread distance, 5) color
the values for text-shadow are basically the same, but there's no spread distance, so 1) horizontal offset, 2) vertical offset, 3) blur radius, 4) color
box-shadow: 5px -5px 16px 8px #fff;
(text-shadow would look the same except for the spread distance, which is 8px in the example, since text-shadow doesn't have the spread distance value)
ok that's it, sorry the whole post looks like a clown who can't do their make up properly, i just had to color code everything because yes.