CSS Pseudo-elements
What are Pseudo-Elements?
A CSS pseudo-element is used to style specified parts of an element.
For example, it can be used to:
- Style the first letter, or line, of an element
- Insert content before, or after, the content of an element
Syntax
The syntax of pseudo-elements:
selector::pseudo-element {
property: value;
}
All CSS Pseudo Elements
Selector | Example | Example description |
---|---|---|
::after | p::after | Insert something after the content of each <p> element |
::before | p::before | Insert something before the content of each <p> element |
::first-letter | p::first-letter | Selects the first letter of each <p> element |
::first-line | p::first-line | Selects the first line of each <p> element |
::marker | ::marker | Selects the markers of list items |
::selection | p::selection | Selects the portion of an element that is selected by a user |
Common examples
::first-line
Pseudo-element
The ::first-line
pseudo-element is used to add a special style to the first line of a text.
The following example formats the first line of the text in all <p>
elements:
p::first-line {
color: #ff0000;
font-variant: small-caps;
}
The ::first-line
pseudo-element can only be applied to block-level elements.
The following properties apply to the ::first-line
pseudo-element:
- font properties
- color properties
- background properties
- word-spacing
- letter-spacing
- text-decoration
- vertical-align
- text-transform
- line-height
- clear
Notice the double colon notation - ::first-line
versus :first-line
The double colon replaced the single-colon notation for pseudo-elements in CSS3. This was an attempt from W3C to distinguish between pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements.
The single-colon syntax was used for both pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements in CSS2 and CSS1.
For backward compatibility, the single-colon syntax is acceptable for CSS2 and CSS1 pseudo-elements.
::first-letter
Pseudo-element
The ::first-letter
pseudo-element is used to add a special style to the first letter of a text.
The following example formats the first letter of the text in all <p>
elements:
p::first-letter {
color: #ff0000;
font-size: xx-large;
}
The ::first-letter
pseudo-element can only be applied to block-level elements.
The following properties apply to the ::first-letter pseudo-element:
- font properties
- color properties
- background properties
- margin properties
- padding properties
- border properties
- text-decoration
- vertical-align (only if "float" is "none")
- text-transform
- line-height
- float
- clear
Pseudo-elements and HTML Classes
Pseudo-elements can be combined with HTML classes: For example, display the first letter of paragraphs with class="intro", in red and in a larger size:
p.intro::first-letter {
color: #ff0000;
font-size: 200%;
}
Multiple Pseudo-elements
Several pseudo-elements can also be combined.
Example
p::first-letter {
color: #ff0000;
font-size: xx-large;
}
p::first-line {
color: #0000ff;
font-variant: small-caps;
}
::before Pseudo-element
The ::before
pseudo-element can be used to insert some content before the content of an element.
The following example inserts an image before the content of each <h1>
element:
h1::before {
content: url(my.gif);
}
::after Pseudo-element
The ::after
pseudo-element can be used to insert some content after the content of an element.
The following example inserts an image after the content of each <h1>
element:
h1::after {
content: url(my.gif);
}
::marker Pseudo-element
The ::marker
pseudo-element selects the markers of list items.
The following example styles the markers of list items:
::marker {
color: red;
font-size: 23px;
}
::selection Pseudo-element
The ::selection
pseudo-element matches the portion of an element that is selected by a user.
The following CSS properties can be applied to ::selection
: color
, background
, cursor
, and outline
.
The following example makes the selected text red on a yellow background:
::selection {
color: red;
background: yellow;
}