HTML, XHTML & CSS

Pseudo Classes
Chapter 12: Top 20 CSS Properties
Pseudo classes in CSS may seem a little strange at first: They take some getting
used to because they modify (X)HTML elements. That explains why Table
12-8 starts each pseudo class name with a colon (it acts as a delimiter with
the element it modifies, and it signals the presence of a CSS pseudo class).
Generally, pseudo classes serve to make content on Web pages more dynamic
and interactive, as you’ll discover when you get comfortable with them.
Table 12-8 CSS Pseudo Classes
Pseudo Class Description
:active Adds a style to an activated element
:after Adds content following an element
:before Adds content preceding an element
:first-child Adds a style to first child element inside another element
:first-letter Adds a style to first character in a text sequence
:first-line Adds a style to first line in a text sequence
:focus Adds a style to element with keyboard input focus
:hover Adds a style to element as you mouse over it
:lang Adds a style to any element with a specific language
attribute
:link Adds a style to unvisited link
:visited Adds a style to visited link
By far, the most widely used pseudo classes apply to (X)HTML links. In the
example in the next section, we combine :hover, :link, and :visited to
show how this works (and looks).
:hover, :link, and :visited
The pseudo classes :hover, :link, and :visited all apply to hyperlinks.
✓ :hover comes into play when the mouse cursor hovers over a hyperlink.
✓ :link applies style to a hyperlink that has not yet been visited.
✓ :visited applies style to a hyperlink that has been visited.
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