CSS Examples Pseudo-classes of CSS

Author: CSS Drive

Pseudo-class are an interesting group of selectors in CSS that apply to elements when they're in a certain state or condition, such as with a link, when the mouse is over it. This makes for some interesting and lightweight visual effects.

Pseudo-class (CSS2.1)	Description	Applies to
:link	Applies to links that have not been visited.	links
:visited	Applies to links that have been visited.	links
:hover	Applies to an element which the mouse is currently over.	all
:active	Applies to an element currently being activated by the user (ie: the mouse is held down over).	all
:focus	Applies to an element while it has the user focus.	all
:first-child	Matches an element that is the first child of some other element.	all
:first-letter	Applies to the first letter of a paragraph.	block level elements
:first-line	Applies to the first formatted line of a paragraph.	block level elements
:lang	Applies to an element when it's in the designated language.	all

The first four pseudo classes are typically used on links, even though 3rd and 4th apply to elements in general. This is because in IE (as of IE6), ":hover" and ":active" don't work on elements other than links.

CSS Example #1 (link pseudo-classes):

A:link    { color: red }    /* unvisited links */
A:visited { color: blue }   /* visited links   */
A:hover   { background-color: yellow } /* user hovers over link*/
A:active  { color: lime }   /* active links    */

This is a very common CSS definition to manipulate the look of links on the page. The order in which you define the four selectors is important, typically known as LVHA (link visited hover active). If you alter the order, some of your selectors will be suppressed and not take effect due to the way CSS handles cascade/ ordering.

CSS Example #2 (:first-child pseudo-class):

img:first-child{ border: 1px solid gray; }

This applies a border to any image that is the first child of another element.

CSS Example #3 (:lang pseudo-class):

:lang(fr) { font-weight: bold; }

This gives elements that are determined by the browser as French (using a variety of methods) a bold font.

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