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CSS Pseudo-classes

Pseudo-classes are used in CSS to add different effects to some selectors, or to a part of some selectors.

Examples

Hyperlink
This example demonstrates how to add different colors to a hyperlink in a document.

Hyperlink 2
This example demonstrates how to add other styles to hyperlinks.

Syntax

The syntax of pseudo-classes:

selector:pseudo-class {property: value}

CSS classes can also be used with pseudo-classes:

selector.class:pseudo-class {property: value}

Anchor Pseudo-classes

A link that is active, visited, unvisited, or when you mouse over a link can all be displayed in different ways in a CSS-supporting browser:

a:link {color: #FF0000}     /* unvisited link */
a:visited {color: #00FF00}  /* visited link */
a:hover {color: #FF00FF}   /* mouse over link */
a:active {color: #0000FF}   /* selected link */

Note: a:hover MUST come after a:link and a:visited in the CSS definition in order to be effective!!

Note: a:active MUST come after a:hover in the CSS definition in order to be effective!!

Note: Pseudo-class names are not case-sensitive.

Note: IE 4 and higher supports the anchor pseudo-class. NN 4.5 and Netscape 6 support the anchor pseudo-class only partially.

Pseudo-classes and CSS Classes

Pseudo-classes can be combined with CSS classes: 

a.red:visited {color: #FF0000}

<a class="red" href="css_syntax.asp">CSS Syntax</a>

If the link in the example above has been visited, it will be displayed in red.

CSS2 - The :first-child Pseudo-class

The :first-child pseudo-class matches a specified element that is the first child of another element.

div:first-child p
{
text-indent:25px
}

<div>
<p>
First paragraph in div.
This paragraph will be indented.
</p>
<p>
Second paragraph in div.
This paragraph will not be indented.
</p>
</div>

<div>
<h1>Header</h1>
<p>
The first paragraph inside the div.
This paragraph will not be indented.
</p>
</div>

p:first-child em
{
font-weight:bold
}

<p>I am a <em>strong</em> man.</p>

a:first-child
{
text-decoration:none
}

<p>
Visit <a href="http://www.w3schools.com">W3Schools</a>
and learn CSS!
Visit <a href="http://www.w3schools.com">W3Schools</a>
and learn HTML!
</p>

CSS2 - The :lang Pseudo-class

The :lang pseudo-class allows the author to specify a language to use in a document or to use in a specified element.

In the example below, the rule sets the type of quotation marks for an HTML document that is in Norwegian:

In the next example, the rule sets the type of quotation marks for blockquote elements:

Pseudo-classes

NN: Netscape, IE: Internet Explorer, W3C: Web Standard

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