heading with horizontal line on either side

Question

I am working on some CSS where the design calls for page titles (headings) to be centered with horizontal lines that are vertically centered on either side. Further, there is a background image on the page so the background of the title needs to be transparent.

I have centered the title and I can use pseudo class to create the line. But I need the line disappear when it cross the text of the title.

I considered using a background gradient that goes transparent where the words are, but since each title could be a different length, I wouldn't know where to put the stops.

Here is the CSS so far:

h1 {  
    text-align: center;  
    position: relative;  
    font-size: 30px;  
    z-index: 1;  
}  

h1:after {  
    content: '';  
    background-color: red;  
    height: 1px;  
    display: block;  
    position: absolute;  
    top: 18px;  
    left: 0;  
    width: 100%;  
}  

Here is where I'm at: http://jsfiddle.net/XWVxk/1/

Can this be done with CSS without adding any extra HTML?

Answer 1

Look at this http://blog.goetter.fr/post/36084887039/tes-pas-cap-premiere-edition , here is your answer.

Here is your original code modified

h1 {
    position: relative;
    font-size: 30px;
    z-index: 1;
    overflow: hidden;
    text-align: center;
}
h1:before, h1:after {
    position: absolute;
    top: 51%;
    overflow: hidden;
    width: 50%;
    height: 1px;
    content: '\a0';
    background-color: red;
}
h1:before {
    margin-left: -50%;
    text-align: right;
}
.color {
    background-color: #ccc;
}

<h1>This is my Title</h1>
<h1>Another Similar Title</h1>
<div class="color"><h1>Just Title</h1></div>

Note: the article is not online anymore, here is the last good archived version: http://web.archive.org/web/20140213165403/http://blog.goetter.fr/post/36084887039/tes-pas-cap-premiere-edition