fade between icon sprite image with text - html

Question

I'm trying to edit a link with icon to fade between colors. I'm using :before for background image which is a sprite, because I couldn't figure how to change the color of the icon using only css when it's only png file.
I found this post which might be an answer( CSS3 - Fade between 'background-position' of a sprite image) and tried to modify it to my needs but it's not working...
Here's the code and the codepen demo in action (http://codepen.io/kikibres/pen/KpjZKM):
HTML
<div id="button">Button</div>
CSS
#button{
display: block;
}
#button a {
font-size: 30px;
font-weight: 700;
letter-spacing: 1;
color: #121e34;
text-decoration: none;
vertical-align: middle;
display: inline-block;
transition: color 0.4s ease;
}
#button a:hover {
color: #f68e07;
}
#button a:before {
content: "";
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
/*float: left;*/
background-image: url('http://www.dagrafixdesigns.com/Templates/DA-2011/DA-2013/Nike_13/img/mobile.png');
background-position: 0 0px;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
width: 30px;
height: 30px;
transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
-moz-transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
-webkit-transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
-o-transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
}
#button a:hover:before{
content: "";
background-image: url('http://www.dagrafixdesigns.com/Templates/DA-2011/DA-2013/Nike_13/img/mobile.png');
background-position: 0 -29px;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
width: 30px;
height: 30px;
display: inline-block;
/*text-indent: -9999px;*/
/*transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
-moz-transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
-webkit-transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;
-o-transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out;*/
opacity: 0;
}
/*#button a:hover:before
{
opacity: 0.4;
}*/
How do I fix it so that it'll fade from one color to another...
* Update *
With some help from others (thanks, everyone!), I was able to edit the code. However, it doesn't line up in the middle like I wanted. Here's the actual link that I'm using for a website. The first code displayed was just an example to see how I can make it work. Anyway, I finally separated the icon and the text by using span, but now I'm trying to tie them together by using "+" in the css, but it's not working. Here's the codepen code: http://codepen.io/kikibres/pen/GJbQKq
HTML
<div id="button"><span></span>Free Consultation</div>
CSS
body {
background-color: #121e34;
}
#button{
display: block;
width: 100%;
}
#button a {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
/*text-indent: 80px;*/
/*width: 100%;
height: 52px;*/
/*background: url(http://i.imgur.com/32k8ugR.png) no-repeat;*/
text-decoration: none;
text-transform: uppercase;
font-size: 30px;
font-weight: 700;
letter-spacing: 1;
color: #fff;
vertical-align: middle;
transition: color 0.4s ease;
}
#button a:hover {
color: #f68e07;
}
#button a span {
position: relative;
display: inline-block;
/*top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0;*/
background: url(http://i.imgur.com/32k8ugR.png) no-repeat;
width: 66px;
height: 52px;
margin-right: 15px;
vertical-align: middle;
}
#button a span:before {
content: "";
/*display: inline-block;*/
position: absolute;
top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0;
background: url(http://i.imgur.com/32k8ugR.png) no-repeat;
background-position: 0 -52px;
opacity: 0;
-webkit-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-moz-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-o-transition: opacity 0.5s;
}
#button a span:hover:before {
opacity: 1;
}
As you can see from this new codepen code, if you hover over the icon, both the icon and the text work, but if you hover over the text, only the text works. How do I fix it?

Answer 1

You've to apply the different image styles on different DOM elements, once it's the anchor tag and the second one is the span (in my example), and then switch the opacity of the different positioned background. CodePen Link
SNIPPET
.button {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
text-indent: 30px;
width: 36px;
height: 30px;
background: url(http://www.dagrafixdesigns.com/Templates/DA-2011/DA-2013/Nike_13/img/mobile.png) no-repeat;
text-decoration: none;
font-size: 1.5em;
transition: color 0.4s ease;
line-height:1.5em;
}
.button:hover{
color:#f68e07;
}
.button span {
position: absolute;
top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0;
background: url(http://www.dagrafixdesigns.com/Templates/DA-2011/DA-2013/Nike_13/img/mobile.png) no-repeat;
background-position: 0 -29px;
opacity: 0;
-webkit-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-moz-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-o-transition: opacity 0.5s;
}
.button:hover span {
opacity: 1;
}
Button<span></span>

Answer 2

To change the color, you can incorporate a CSS transition with a -webkit-filter where when something happens you would invoke the -webkit-filter of your choice. For example:
img {
-webkit-filter:grayscale(0%);
transition: -webkit-filter .3s linear;
}
img:hover
{
-webkit-filter:grayscale(75%);
}

Answer 3

You have declared opacity: 0; for #button a:hover:before { ... }, that's why it doesn't work in your codepen demo.

Answer 4

I got it!!! Thanks everyone for their help! I was able to make it work!!!
Here's working codepen: http://codepen.io/kikibres/pen/LVKQxE
HTML
<div id="button"><span></span>Free Consultation</div>
CSS
body {
background-color: #121e34;
}
#button{
display: block;
width: 100%;
}
#button a {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
text-decoration: none;
text-transform: uppercase;
font-size: 30px;
font-weight: 700;
letter-spacing: 1;
color: #fff;
vertical-align: middle;
transition: color 0.4s ease;
}
#button a span {
position: relative;
display: inline-block;
background: url(http://i.imgur.com/32k8ugR.png) no-repeat;
width: 66px;
height: 52px;
margin-right: 15px;
vertical-align: middle;
}
#button a span:before {
content: "";
position: absolute;
top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0;
background: url(http://i.imgur.com/32k8ugR.png) no-repeat;
background-position: 0 -52px;
opacity: 0;
-webkit-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-moz-transition: opacity 0.5s;
-o-transition: opacity 0.5s;
}
#button:hover a {
color: #f68e07;
}
#button:hover a span:before {
opacity: 1;
}