CSS Basic: What You Should Already Know

Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:

HTML / XHTML

If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on our Home page.

What is CSS?

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets Styles define how to display HTML elements Styles were added to HTML 4.0 to solve a problem External Style Sheets can save a lot of work External Style Sheets are stored in CSS files

CSS Demo
An HTML document can be displayed with different styles: See how it works

Styles Solved a Big Problem

HTML was never intended to contain tags for formatting a document. HTML was intended to define the content of a document, like: <h1>This is a heading</h1> <p>This is a paragraph.</p> When tags like <font>, and color attributes were added to the HTML 3.2 specification, it started a nightmare for web developers. Development of large web sites, where fonts and color information were added to every single page, became a long and expensive process. To solve this problem, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created CSS. In HTML 4.0, all formatting could be removed from the HTML document, and stored in a separate CSS file. All browsers support CSS today.

CSS Saves a Lot of Work!

CSS defines HOW HTML elements are to be displayed. Styles are normally saved in external .css files. External style sheets enable you to change the appearance and layout of all the pages in a Web site, just by editing one single file!

CSS Syntax
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Examples

Look at Example 1 Look at Example 2

CSS Syntax
A CSS rule has two main parts: a selector, and one or more declarations:

The selector is normally the HTML element you want to style. Each declaration consists of a property and a value. The property is the style attribute you want to change. Each property has a value.

CSS Example
CSS declarations always ends with a semicolon, and declaration groups are surrounded by curly brackets:

p {color:red;text-align:center;}

To make the CSS more readable, you can put one declaration on each line, like this:

Example
p { color:red; text-align:center; }

Try it yourself

CSS Comments
Comments are used to explain your code, and may help you when you edit the source code at a later date. Comments are ignored by browsers. A CSS comment begins with "/*", and ends with "*/", like this:

/*This is a comment*/ p

{ text-align:center; /*This is another comment*/ color:black; font-family:arial; }

CSS Id and Class

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The id and class Selectors

In addition to setting a style for a HTML element, CSS allows you to specify your own selectors called "id" and "class".

The id Selector
The id selector is used to specify a style for a single, unique element. The id selector uses the id attribute of the HTML element, and is defined with a "#". The style rule below will be applied to the element with id="para1":

Example
#para1 { text-align:center; color:red; }

Try it yourself

Do NOT start an ID name with a number! It will not work in Mozilla/Firefox.

The class Selector

The class selector is used to specify a style for a group of elements. Unlike the id selector, the class selector is most often used on several elements. This allows you to set a particular style for any HTML elements with the same class. The class selector uses the HTML class attribute, and is defined with a "." In the example below, all HTML elements with class="center" will be center-aligned:

Example

.center {text-align:center;}

Try it yourself

You can also specify that only specific HTML elements should be affected by a class. In the example below, all p elements with class="center" will be center-aligned:

Example
p.center {text-align:center;}

Try it yourself

Do NOT start a class name with a number! This is only supported in Internet Explorer

CSS How To...

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When a browser reads a style sheet, it will format the document according to it.

Three Ways to Insert CSS

There are three ways of inserting a style sheet:

External style sheet Internal style sheet Inline style

External Style Sheet

An external style sheet is ideal when the style is applied to many pages. With an external style sheet, you can change the look of an entire Web site by changing one file. Each page must link to the style sheet using the <link> tag. The <link> tag goes inside the head section:

<head> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mystyle.css" /> </head>

An external style sheet can be written in any text editor. The file should not contain any html tags. Your style sheet should be saved with a .css extension. An example of a style sheet file is shown below:

hr {color:sienna;} p {margin-left:20px;} body {background-image:url("images/back40.gif");}

Do not leave spaces between the property value and the units! "margin-left:20 px" (instead of "margin-left:20px") will work in IE, but not in Firefox or Opera.

Internal Style Sheet

An internal style sheet should be used when a single document has a unique style. You define internal styles in the head section of an HTML page, by using the <style> tag, like this:

<head> <style type="text/css"> hr {color:sienna;} p {margin-left:20px;} body {background-image:url("images/back40.gif");} </style> </head>

Inline Styles
An inline style loses many of the advantages of style sheets by mixing content with presentation. Use this method sparingly! To use inline styles you use the style attribute in the relevant tag. The style attribute can contain any CSS property. The example shows how to change the color and the left margin of a paragraph:

<p style="color:sienna;margin-left:20px">This is a paragraph.</p>

Multiple Style Sheets

If some properties have been set for the same selector in different style sheets, the values will be inherited from the more specific style sheet. For example, an external style sheet has these properties for the h3 selector:

h3 { color:red; text-align:left; font-size:8pt; }

And an internal style sheet has these properties for the h3 selector:

h3 { text-align:right; font-size:20pt; }

If the page with the internal style sheet also links to the external style sheet the properties for h3 will be:

color:red;

text-align:right; font-size:20pt;

The color is inherited from the external style sheet and the text-alignment and the font-size is replaced by the internal style sheet.

Multiple Styles Will Cascade into One

Styles can be specified:

inside an HTML element inside the head section of an HTML page in an external CSS file

Tip: Even multiple external style sheets can be referenced inside a single HTML document.

Cascading order
What style will be used when there is more than one style specified for an HTML element? Generally speaking we can say that all the styles will "cascade" into a new "virtual" style sheet by the following rules, where number four has the highest priority: 1. 2. 3. 4. Browser default External style sheet Internal style sheet (in the head section) Inline style (inside an HTML element)

So, an inline style (inside an HTML element) has the highest priority, which means that it will override a style defined inside the <head> tag, or in an external style sheet, or in a browser (a default value).

Note: If the link to the external style sheet is placed after the internal style sheet in HTML <head>, the external style sheet will override the internal style sheet!

CSS STYLING:

CSS Background
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CSS background properties are used to define the background effects of an element. CSS properties used for background effects:

background-color background-image background-repeat background-attachment background-position

Background Color
The background-color property specifies the background color of an element. The background color of a page is defined in the body selector:

Example
body {background-color:#b0c4de;}

Try it yourself

The background color can be specified by:

name - a color name, like "red" RGB - an RGB value, like "rgb(255,0,0)" Hex - a hex value, like "#ff0000"

In the example below, the h1, p, and div elements have different background colors:

Example
h1 {background-color:#6495ed;} p {background-color:#e0ffff;} div {background-color:#b0c4de;}

Try it yourself

Background Image

The background-image property specifies an image to use as the background of an element. By default, the image is repeated so it covers the entire element. The background image for a page can be set like this:

Example
body {background-image:url('paper.gif');}

Try it yourself

Below is an example of a bad combination of text and background image. The text is almost not readable:

Example
body {background-image:url('bgdesert.jpg');}

Try it yourself

Background Image - Repeat Horizontally or Vertically

By default, the background-image property repeats an image both horizontally and vertically. Some images should be repeated only horizontally or vertically, or they will look strange, like this:

Example
body { background-image:url('gradient2.png'); }

Try it yourself

If the image is repeated only horizontally (repeat-x), the background will look better:

Example
body { background-image:url('gradient2.png'); background-repeat:repeat-x; }

Try it yourself

Background Image - Set position and no-repeat

When using a background image, use an image that does not disturb the text. Showing the image only once is specified by the background-repeat property:

Example
body { background-image:url('img_tree.png'); background-repeat:no-repeat; }

Try it yourself

In the example above, the background image is shown in the same place as the text. We want to change the position of the image, so that it does not disturb the text too much. The position of the image is specified by the background-position property:

Example
body { background-image:url('img_tree.png'); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:right top; }

Try it yourself

Background - Shorthand property

As you can see from the examples above, there are many properties to consider when dealing with backgrounds. To shorten the code, it is also possible to specify all the properties in one single property. This is called a shorthand property. The shorthand property for background is simply "background":

Example
body {background:#ffffff url('img_tree.png') no-repeat right top;}

Try it yourself

When using the shorthand property the order of the property values are:

background-color background-image background-repeat background-attachment

background-position

It does not matter if one of the property values are missing, as long as the ones that are present are in this order. This example uses more advanced CSS. Take a look: Advanced example

More Examples

How to set a fixed background image This example demonstrates how to set a fixed background image. The image will not scroll with the rest of the page.

All CSS Background Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property background

Description Sets all the background properties in one declaration

Values background-color background-image background-repeat backgroundattachment background-position inherit scroll fixed inherit color-rgb color-hex color-name transparent inherit url(URL) none inherit left top left center left bottom right top right center right bottom center top center center center bottom x% y% xpos ypos inherit repeat repeat-x repeat-y no-repeat inherit

CSS 1

background-attachment

Sets whether a background image is fixed or scrolls with the rest of the page

background-color

Sets the background color of an element

background-image

Sets the background image for an element

background-position

Sets the starting position of a background image

background-repeat

Sets if/how a background image will be repeated

CSS Text
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TEXT FORMATTING
This text is styled with some of the text formatting properties. The heading uses the text-align, text-transform, and color properties. The paragraph is indented, aligned, and the space between characters is specified. The underline is removed from the "Try it yourself" link.

Text Color
The color property is used to set the color of the text. The color can be specified by:

name - a color name, like "red" RGB - an RGB value, like "rgb(255,0,0)" Hex - a hex value, like "#ff0000"

The default color for a page is defined in the body selector.

Example
body {color:blue;} h1 {color:#00ff00;} h2 {color:rgb(255,0,0);}

Try it yourself

For W3C compliant CSS: If you define the color property, you must also define the background-color property.

Text Alignment
The text-align property is used to set the horizontal alignment of a text. Text can be centered, or aligned to the left or right, or justified. When text-align is set to "justify", each line is stretched so that every line has equal width, and the left and right margins are straight (like in magazines and newspapers).

Example
h1 {text-align:center;} p.date {text-align:right;} p.main {text-align:justify;}

Try it yourself

Text Decoration

The text-decoration property is used to set or remove decorations from text. The text-decoration property is mostly used to remove underlines from links for design purposes:

Example
a {text-decoration:none;}

Try it yourself

It can also be used to decorate text:

Example
h1 h2 h3 h4 {text-decoration:overline;} {text-decoration:line-through;} {text-decoration:underline;} {text-decoration:blink;}

Try it yourself

It is not recommended to underline text that is not a link, as this often confuses users.

Text Transformation
The text-transform property is used to specify uppercase and lowercase letters in a text. It can be used to turn everything into uppercase or lowercase letters, or capitalize the first letter of each word.

Example
p.uppercase {text-transform:uppercase;} p.lowercase {text-transform:lowercase;} p.capitalize {text-transform:capitalize;}

Try it yourself

Text Indentation
The text-indentation property is used to specify the indentation of the first line of a text.

Example
p {text-indent:50px;}

Try it yourself

More Examples

Specify the space between characters This example demonstrates how to increase or decrease the space between characters. Specify the space between lines This example demonstrates how to specify the space between the lines in a paragraph. Set the text direction of an element This example demonstrates how to change the text direction of an element. Increase the white space between words This example demonstrates how to increase the white space between words in a paragraph. Disable text wrapping inside an element This example demonstrates how to disable text wrapping inside an element. Vertical alignment of an image This example demonstrates how to set the vertical align of an image in a text.

All CSS Text Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property color direction

Description Sets the color of a text Sets the text direction

Values color ltr rtl normal number length % normal length left right center justify none underline overline line-through blink length % none color length

CSS 1 2

line-height

Sets the distance between lines

letter-spacing

Increase or decrease the space between characters

text-align

Aligns the text in an element

text-decoration

Adds decoration to text

text-indent

Indents the first line of text in an element

text-shadow

text-transform

Controls the letters in an element

none capitalize uppercase

lowercase unicode-bidi normal embed bidi-override Sets the vertical alignment of an element baseline sub super top text-top middle bottom text-bottom length % normal pre nowrap normal length 2

vertical-align

white-space

Sets how white space inside an element is handled

word-spacing

Increase or decrease the space between words

CSS Font
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CSS font properties define the font family, boldness, size, and the style of a text.

Difference Between Serif and Sans-serif Fonts

On computer screens, sans-serif fonts are considered easier to read than serif fonts.

CSS Font Families

In CSS, there are two types of font family names:

generic family - a group of font families with a similar look (like "Serif" or "Monospace") font family - a specific font family (like "Times New Roman" or "Arial")

Generic family Serif

Font family

Description Serif fonts have small lines at the ends on some characters

Times New Roman Georgia Arial Verdana Courier New Lucida Console

Sans-serif

"Sans" means without - these fonts do not have the lines at the ends of characters

Monospace

All monospace characters have the same width

Font Family
The font family of a text is set with the font-family property. The font-family property should hold several font names as a "fallback" system. If the browser does not support the first font, it tries the next font. Start with the font you want, and end with a generic family, to let the browser pick a similar font in the generic family, if no other fonts are available. Note: If the name of a font family is more than one word, it must be in quotation marks, like font-family: "Times New Roman". More than one font family is specified in a comma-separated list:

Example
p{font-family:"Times New Roman", Times, serif;}

Try it yourself

For more commonly used font combinations, look at our Web Safe Font Combinations.

Font Style
The font-style property is mostly used to specify italic text. This property has three values:

Example

normal - The text is shown normally italic - The text is shown in italics oblique - The text is "leaning" (oblique is very similar to italic, but less supported)

p.normal {font-style:normal;} p.italic {font-style:italic;} p.oblique {font-style:oblique;}

Try it yourself

Font Size
The font-size property sets the size of the text. Being able to manage the text size is important in web design. However, you should not use font size adjustments to make paragraphs look like headings, or headings look like paragraphs. Always use the proper HTML tags, like <h1> - <h6> for headings and <p> for paragraphs. The font-size value can be an absolute, or relative size. Absolute size:

Sets the text to a specified size Does not allow a user to change the text size in all browsers (bad for accessibility reasons) Absolute size is useful when the physical size of the output is known

Relative size:

Sets the size relative to surrounding elements Allows a user to change the text size in browsers

If you do not specify a font size, the default size for normal text, like paragraphs, is 16px (16px=1em).

Set Font Size With Pixels

Setting the text size with pixels, gives you full control over the text size:

Example
h1 {font-size:40px;} h2 {font-size:30px;} p {font-size:14px;}

Try it yourself

The example above allows Firefox, Chrome, and Safari to resize the text, but not Internet Explorer. The text can be resized in all browsers using the zoom tool (however, this resizes the entire page, not just the text).

Set Font Size With Em

To avoid the resizing problem with Internet Explorer, many developers use em instead of pixels. The em size unit is recommended by the W3C. 1em is equal to the current font size. The default text size in browsers is 16px. So, the default size of 1em is 16px. The size can be calculated from pixels to em using this formula: pixels/16=em

Example

h1 {font-size:2.5em;} /* 40px/16=2.5em */ h2 {font-size:1.875em;} /* 30px/16=1.875em */ p {font-size:0.875em;} /* 14px/16=0.875em */

Try it yourself

In the example above, the text size in em is the same as the previous example in pixels. However, with the em size, it is possible to adjust the text size in all browsers. Unfortunately, there is still a problem with IE. When resizing the text, it becomes larger than it should when made larger, and smaller than it should when made smaller.

Use a Combination of Percent and Em

The solution that works in all browsers, is to set a default font-size in percent for the body element:

Example
body {font-size:100%;} h1 {font-size:2.5em;} h2 {font-size:1.875em;} p {font-size:0.875em;}

Try it yourself

Our code now works great! It shows the same text size in all browsers, and allows all browsers to zoom or resize the text!

More Examples

Set the boldness of the font This example demonstrates how to set the boldness of a font. Set the variant of the font This example demonstrates how to set the variant of a font. All the font properties in one declaration This example demonstrates how to use the shorthand property for setting all of the font properties in one declaration.

All CSS Font Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property font

Description Sets all the font properties in one declaration

Values font-style font-variant font-weight font-size/line-height font-family caption

CSS 1

icon menu message-box small-caption status-bar inherit font-family Specifies the font family for text family-name generic-family inherit xx-small x-small small medium large x-large xx-large smaller larger length % inherit normal italic oblique inherit normal small-caps inherit normal bold bolder lighter 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 inherit 1

font-size

Specifies the font size of text

font-style

Specifies the font style for text

font-variant

Specifies whether or not a text should be displayed in a small-caps font

font-weight

Specifies the weight of a font

CSS Links
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Links can be styled in different ways.

Styling Links
Links can be style with any CSS property (e.g. color, font-family, background-color). Special for links are that they can be styled differently depending on what state they are in. The four links states are:

a:link - a normal, unvisited link


Example

a:visited - a link the user has visited a:hover - a link when the user mouses over it a:active - a link the moment it is clicked

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 */

Try it yourself

When setting the style for several link states, there are some order rules:

a:hover MUST come after a:link and a:visited a:active MUST come after a:hover

Common Link Styles

In the example above the link changes color depending on what state it is in. Lets go through some of the other common ways to style links:

Text Decoration
The text-decoration property is mostly used to remove underlines from links:

Example
a:link {text-decoration:none;} a:visited {text-decoration:none;} a:hover {text-decoration:underline;} a:active {text-decoration:underline;}

Try it yourself

Background Color
The background-color property specifies the background color for links:

Example
a:link {background-color:#B2FF99;} a:visited {background-color:#FFFF85;} a:hover {background-color:#FF704D;} a:active {background-color:#FF704D;}

Try it yourself

More Examples

Add different styles to hyperlinks This example demonstrates how to add other styles to hyperlinks. Advanced - Create link boxes This example demonstrates a more advanced example where we combine several CSS properties to

CSS Lists
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The CSS list properties allow you to:

Set different list item markers for ordered lists Set different list item markers for unordered lists Set an image as the list item marker

List
In HTML, there are two types of lists:

unordered lists - the list items are marked with bullets ordered lists - the list items are marked with numbers or letters

With CSS, lists can be styled further, and images can be used as the list item marker.

Different List Item Markers

The type of list item marker is specified with the list-style-type property:

Example
ul.a {list-style-type: circle;} ul.b {list-style-type: square;} ol.c {list-style-type: upper-roman;} ol.d {list-style-type: lower-alpha;}

Try it yourself

Some of the property values are for unordered lists, and some for ordered lists.

Values for Unordered Lists

Value none Description No marker

disc circle square

Default. The marker is a filled circle The marker is a circle The marker is a square

Values for Ordered Lists

Value armenian decimal decimal-leading-zero georgian lower-alpha lower-greek lower-latin lower-roman upper-alpha upper-latin upper-roman Description The marker is traditional Armenian numbering The marker is a number The marker is a number padded by initial zeros (01, 02, 03, etc.) The marker is traditional Georgian numbering (an, ban, gan, etc.) The marker is lower-alpha (a, b, c, d, e, etc.) The marker is lower-greek (alpha, beta, gamma, etc.) The marker is lower-latin (a, b, c, d, e, etc.) The marker is lower-roman (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.) The marker is upper-alpha (A, B, C, D, E, etc.) The marker is upper-latin (A, B, C, D, E, etc.) The marker is upper-roman (I, II, III, IV, V, etc.)

Note: No versions of Internet Explorer (including IE8) support the property values "decimal-leading-zero", "lower-greek", "lowerlatin", "upper-latin", "armenian", or "georgian".

An Image as The List Item Marker

To specify an image as the list item marker, use the list-style-image property:

Example
ul { list-style-image: url('sqpurple.gif'); }

Try it yourself

The example above does not display equally in all browsers. IE and Opera will display the image-marker a little bit higher than Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. If you want the image-marker to be placed equally in all browsers, a crossbrowser solution is explained below.

Crossbrowser Solution
The following example displays the image-marker equally in all browsers:

Example
ul { list-style-type: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; } li { background-image: url(sqpurple.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 0px 5px; padding-left: 14px; }

Try it yourself

Example explained:

For ul:

o o o o o

Set the list-style-type to none to remove the list item marker Set both padding and margin to 0px (for cross-browser compatibility) Set the URL of the image, and show it only once (no-repeat) Position the image where you want it (left 0px and down 5px) Position the text in the list with padding-left

For li:

List - Shorthand property

It is also possible to specify all the list properties in one, single property. This is called a shorthand property. The shorthand property used for lists, is the list-style property:

Example
ul { list-style: square url("sqpurple.gif"); }

Try it yourself

When using the shorthand property, the order of the values are:

list-style-type list-style-position (for a description, see the CSS properties table below) list-style-image

It does not matter if one of the values above are missing, as long as the rest are in the specified order.

More Examples

All the different list-item markers for lists This example demonstrates all the different list-item markers in CSS.

All CSS List Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property list-style

Description Sets all the properties for a list in one declaration

Values list-style-type list-style-position list-style-image inherit URL none inherit inside outside inherit none disc circle square decimal decimal-leading-zero armenian georgian lower-alpha upper-alpha lower-greek lower-latin upper-latin lower-roman upper-roman inherit

CSS 1

list-style-image

Specifies an image as the list-item marker

list-style-position

Specifies if the list-item markers should appear inside or outside the content flow

list-style-type

Specifies the type of list-item marker

CSS Tables
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The look of an HTML table can be greatly improved with CSS:

Company
Alfreds Futterkiste Berglunds snabbkp Centro comercial Moctezuma Ernst Handel Island Trading Kniglich Essen

Contact
Maria Anders Christina Berglund Francisco Chang Roland Mendel Helen Bennett Philip Cramer

Country
Germany Sweden Mexico Austria UK Germany

Laughing Bacchus Winecellars Magazzini Alimentari Riuniti North/South Paris spcialits The Big Cheese Vaffeljernet

Yoshi Tannamuri Giovanni Rovelli Simon Crowther Marie Bertrand Liz Nixon Palle Ibsen

Canada Italy UK France USA Denmark

Table Borders
To specify table borders in CSS, use the border property. The example below specifies a black border for table, th, and td elements:

Example
table, th, td { border: 1px solid black; }

Try it yourself

Notice that the table in the example above has double borders. This is because both the table, th, and td elements have separate borders. To display a single border for the table, use the border-collapse property.

Collapse Borders
The border-collapse property sets whether the table borders are collapsed into a single border or separated:

Example
table { border-collapse:collapse; } table,th, td { border: 1px solid black; }

Try it yourself

Table Width and Height

Width and height of a table is defined by the width and height properties.

The example below sets the width of the table to 100%, and the height of the th elements to 50px:

Example
table { width:100%; } th { height:50px; }

Try it yourself

Table Text Alignment

The text in a table is aligned with the text-align and vertical-align properties. The text-align property sets the horizontal alignment, like left, right, or center:

Example
td { text-align:right; }

Try it yourself

The vertical-align property sets the vertical alignment, like top, bottom, or middle:

Example
td { height:50px; vertical-align:bottom; }

Try it yourself

Table Padding
To control the space between the border and content in a table, use the padding property on td and th elements:

Example
td { padding:15px;

Try it yourself

Table Color
The example below specifies the color of the borders, and the text and background color of th elements:

Example
table, td, th { border:1px solid green; } th { background-color:green; color:white; }

Try it yourself

More Examples

Make a fancy table This example demonstrates how to create a fancy table. Set the position of the table caption This example demonstrates how to position the table caption.

CSS BOX MODEL:

CSS Box Model

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The CSS Box Model

All HTML elements can be considered as boxes. In CSS, the term "box model" is used when talking about design and layout. The CSS box model is essentially a box that wraps around HTML elements, and it consists of: margins, borders, padding, and the actual content. The box model allows us to place a border around elements and space elements in relation to other elements.

The image below illustrates the box model:

Explanation of the different parts:

Margin - Clears an area around the border. The margin does not have a background color, it is completely transparent Border - A border that goes around the padding and content. The border is affected by the background color of the box Padding - Clears an area around the content. The padding is affected by the background color of the box Content - The content of the box, where text and images appear

In order to set the width and height of an element correctly in all browsers, you need to know how the box model works.

Width and Height of an Element

Important: When you specify the width and height properties of an element with CSS, you are just setting the width and height of the content area. To know the full size of the element, you must also add the padding, border and margin. The total width of the element in the example below is 300px:

width:250px; padding:10px; border:5px solid gray; margin:10px;

Let's do the math: 250px (width) + 20px (left and right padding) + 10px (left and right border) + 20px (left and right margin) = 300px Imagine that you only had 250px of space. Let's make an element with a total width of 250px:

Example
width:220px; padding:10px; border:5px solid gray; margin:0px;

Try it yourself

The total width of an element should always be calculated like this: Total element width = width + left padding + right padding + left border + right border + left margin + right margin The total height of an element should always be calculated like this: Total element height = height + top padding + bottom padding + top border + bottom border + top margin + bottom margin

Browsers Compatibility Issue

If you tested the previous example in Internet Explorer, you saw that the total width was not exactly 250px. IE includes padding and border in the width, when the width property is set, unless a DOCTYPE is declared. To fix this problem, just add a DOCTYPE to the code:

Example
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html> <head> <style type="text/css"> div.ex { width:220px; padding:10px; border:5px solid gray; margin:0px; } </style> </head>

Try it yourself

CSS Border
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CSS Border Properties

The CSS border properties allow you to specify the style and color of an element's border.

Border Style
The border-style property specifies what kind of border to display.

None of the border properties will have ANY effect unless the border-style property is set!

border-style values:

none: Defines no border

dotted: Defines a dotted border

dashed: Defines a dashed border

solid: Defines a solid border

double: Defines two borders. The width of the two borders are the same as the border-width value

groove: Defines a 3D grooved border. The effect depends on the border-color value

ridge: Defines a 3D ridged border. The effect depends on the border-color value

inset: Defines a 3D inset border. The effect depends on the border-color value

outset: Defines a 3D outset border. The effect depends on the border-color value

Try it yourself: Set the style of the border

Border Width
The border-width property is used to set the width of the border. The width is set in pixels, or by using one of the three pre-defined values: thin, medium, or thick. Note: The "border-width" property does not work if it is used alone. Use the "border-style" property to set the borders first.

Example
p.one { border-style:solid; border-width:5px; } p.two { border-style:solid; border-width:medium; }

Try it yourself

Border Color
The border-color property is used to set the color of the border. The color can be set by:

name - specify a color name, like "red" RGB - specify a RGB value, like "rgb(255,0,0)" Hex - specify a hex value, like "#ff0000"

You can also set the border color to "transparent". Note: The "border-color" property does not work if it is used alone. Use the "border-style" property to set the borders first.

Example
p.one { border-style:solid; border-color:red; } p.two { border-style:solid; border-color:#98bf21; }

Try it yourself

Border - Individual sides

In CSS it is possible to specify different borders for different sides:

Example
p { border-top-style:dotted; border-right-style:solid; border-bottom-style:dotted; border-left-style:solid; }

Try it yourself

The example above can also be set with a single property:

Example
border-style:dotted solid;

Try it yourself

The border-style property can have from one to four values.

border-style:dotted solid double dashed; o top border is dotted o right border is solid o bottom border is double o left border is dashed

border-style:dotted solid double;

o o o

top border is dotted right and left borders are solid bottom border is double

border-style:dotted solid; o top and bottom borders are dotted o right and left borders are solid

border-style:dotted; o all four borders are dotted

The border-style property is used in the example above. However, it also works with border-width and border-color.

Border - Shorthand property

As you can see from the examples above, there are many properties to consider when dealing with borders. To shorten the code, it is also possible to specify all the border properties in one property. This is called a shorthand property. The shorthand property for the border properties is "border":

Example
border:5px solid red;

Try it yourself

When using the border property, the order of the values are:

border-width border-style border-color

It does not matter if one of the values above are missing (although, border-style is required), as long as the rest are in the specified order.

More Examples

All the top border properties in one declaration This example demonstrates a shorthand property for setting all of the properties for the top border in one declaration. Set the style of the bottom border This example demonstrates how to set the style of the bottom border. Set the width of the left border This example demonstrates how to set the width of the left border. Set the color of the four borders This example demonstrates how to set the color of the four borders. It can have from one to four colors.

Set the color of the right border This example demonstrates how to set the color of the right border.

All CSS Border Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property border

Description Sets all the border properties in one declaration

Values border-width border-style border-color border-bottom-width border-bottom-style border-bottom-color border-color border-style border-width color_name hex_number rgb_number transparent inherit border-left-width border-left-style border-left-color border-color border-style border-width border-right-width border-right-style border-right-color border-color border-style border-width none hidden dotted dashed solid double groove ridge inset outset inherit border-top-width border-top-style

CSS 1

border-bottom

Sets all the bottom border properties in one declaration

border-bottom-color border-bottom-style border-bottom-width border-color

Sets the color of the bottom border Sets the style of the bottom border Sets the width of the bottom border Sets the color of the four borders

2 2 1 1

border-left

Sets all the left border properties in one declaration

border-left-color border-left-style border-left-width border-right

Sets the color of the left border Sets the style of the left border Sets the width of the left border Sets all the right border properties in one declaration

2 2 1 1

border-right-color border-right-style border-right-width border-style

Sets the color of the right border Sets the style of the right border Sets the width of the right border Sets the style of the four borders

2 2 1 1

border-top

Sets all the top border properties in one declaration

border-top-color border-top-color border-top-style border-top-width border-width Sets the color of the top border Sets the style of the top border Sets the width of the top border Sets the width of the four borders border-color border-style border-width thin medium thick length inherit 2 2 1 1

CSS Outlines
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An outline is a line that is drawn around elements, outside the border edge, to make the element "stand out". The outline properties specifies the style, color, and width of an outline.

Examples
Draw a line around an element (outline) This example demonstrates how to draw a line around an element, outside the border edge. Set the style of an outline This example demonstrates how to set the style of an outline. Set the color of an outline This example demonstrates how to set the color of an outline. Set the width of an outline This example demonstrates how to set the width of an outline.

All CSS Outline Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property outline

Description Sets all the outline properties in one declaration

Values outline-color outline-style outline-width inherit color_name hex_number rgb_number invert inherit

CSS 2

outline-color

Sets the color of an outline

outline-style

Sets the style of an outline

none dotted dashed solid double groove ridge inset outset inherit thin medium thick length inherit

outline-width

Sets the width of an outline

CSS Margin
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The CSS margin properties define the space around elements.

Margin
The margin clears an area around an element (outside the border). The margin does not have a background color, and is completely transparent. The top, right, bottom, and left margin can be changed independently using separate properties. A shorthand margin property can also be used, to change all margins at once.

Possible Values
Value auto Description The browser sets the margin. The result of this is dependant of the browser Defines a fixed margin (in pixels, pt, em, etc.) Defines a margin in % of the containing element

length %

It is possible to use negative values, to overlap content.

Margin - Individual sides

In CSS, it is possible to specify different margins for different sides:

Example
margin-top:100px; margin-bottom:100px;

margin-right:50px; margin-left:50px;

Try it yourself

Margin - Shorthand property

To shorten the code, it is possible to specify all the margin properties in one property. This is called a shorthand property. The shorthand property for all the margin properties is "margin":

Example
margin:100px 50px;

Try it yourself

The margin property can have from one to four values.

margin:25px 50px 75px 100px; o top margin is 25px o right margin is 50px o bottom margin is 75px o left margin is 100px

margin:25px 50px 75px; o top margin is 25px o right and left margins are 50px o bottom margin is 75px

margin:25px 50px; o top and bottom margins are 25px o right and left margins are 50px

margin:25px; o all four margins are 25px

More Examples

Set the top margin of a text using a cm value This example demonstrates how to set the top margin of a text using a cm value. Set the bottom margin of a text using a percent value This example demonstrates how to set the bottom margin of a text using a percent value.

All CSS Margin Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property margin

Description A shorthand property for setting the margin properties in one declaration

Values margin-top margin-right margin-bottom margin-left auto length % auto length % auto length % auto length %

CSS 1

margin-bottom

Sets the bottom margin of an element

margin-left

Sets the left margin of an element

margin-right

Sets the right margin of an element

margin-top

Sets the top margin of an element

CSS Padding
Previous Next Chapter

The CSS padding properties define the space between the element border and the element content.

Padding
The padding clears an area around the content (inside the border) of an element. The padding is affected by the background color of the element. The top, right, bottom, and left padding can be changed independently using separate properties. A shorthand padding property can also be used, to change all paddings at once.

Possible Values
Value length % Description Defines a fixed padding (in pixels, pt, em, etc.) Defines a padding in % of the containing element

Padding - Individual sides

In CSS, it is possible to specify different padding for different sides:

Example
padding-top:25px; padding-bottom:25px; padding-right:50px; padding-left:50px;

Try it yourself

Padding - Shorthand property

To shorten the code, it is possible to specify all the padding properties in one property. This is called a shorthand property. The shorthand property for all the padding properties is "padding":

Example
padding:25px 50px;

Try it yourself

The padding property can have from one to four values.

padding:25px 50px 75px 100px; o top padding is 25px o right padding is 50px o bottom padding is 75px o left padding is 100px

padding:25px 50px 75px; o top padding is 25px o right and left paddings are 50px o bottom padding is 75px

padding:25px 50px; o top and bottom paddings are 25px o right and left paddings are 50px

padding:25px; o all four paddings are 25px

More Examples

All the padding properties in one declaration This example demonstrates a shorthand property for setting all of the padding properties in one declaration, can have from one to four values. Set the left padding This example demonstrates how to set the left padding of a p element. Set the right padding This example demonstrates how to set the right padding of a p element. Set the top padding This example demonstrates how to set the top padding of a p element. Set the bottom padding This example demonstrates how to set the bottom padding of a p element.

All CSS Padding Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property padding

Description A shorthand property for setting all the padding properties in one declaration

Values padding-top padding-right padding-bottom padding-left length % length % length % length %

CSS 1

padding-bottom

Sets the bottom padding of an element

padding-left

Sets the left padding of an element

padding-right

Sets the right padding of an element

padding-top

Sets the top padding of an element

CSS ADVANCED:

CSS Grouping and Nesting Selectors

Previous Next Chapter

Grouping Selectors
In style sheets there are often elements with the same style.

h1 { color:green; } h2 { color:green; } p { color:green; }

To minimize the code, you can group selectors. Separate each selector with a comma. In the example below we have grouped the selectors from the code above:

Example
h1,h2,p { color:green; }

Try it yourself

Nesting Selectors
It is possible to apply a style for a selector within a selector. In the example below, one style is specified for all p elements, and a separate style is specified for p elements nested within the "marked" class:

Example
p { color:blue; text-align:center; }

.marked { background-color:blue; } .marked p { color:white; }

Try it yourself

CSS Dimension
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The CSS dimension properties allow you to control the height and width of an element.

Try it Yourself - Examples

Set the height of elements This example demonstrates how to set the height of different elements. Set the height of an image using percent This example demonstrates how to set the height of an element using a percent value. Set the width of an element using a pixel value This example demonstrates how to set the width of an element using a pixel value. Set the maximum height of an element This example demonstrates how to set the maximum height of an element. Set the maximum width of an element using percent This example demonstrates how to set the maximum width of an element using a percent value. Set the minimum height of an element This example demonstrates how to set the minimum height of an element. Set the minimum width of an element using a pixel value This example demonstrates how to set the minimum width of an element using a pixel value.

All CSS Dimension Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property height

Description Sets the height of an element

Values auto length %

CSS 1

inherit max-height Sets the maximum height of an element none length % inherit none length % inherit length % inherit length % inherit auto length % inherit 2

max-width

Sets the maximum width of an element

min-height

Sets the minimum height of an element

min-width

Sets the minimum width of an element

width

Sets the width of an element

CSS Display and Visibility

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The display property specifies if/how an element is displayed, and the visibility property specifies if an element should be visible or hidden.
Box 1

Box 2

Box 3

Hiding an Element - display:none or visibility:hidden

Hiding an element can be done by setting the display property to "none" or the visibility property to "hidden". However, notice that these two methods produce different results: visibility:hidden hides an element, but it will still take up the same space as before. The element will be hidden, but still affect the layout.

Example
h1.hidden {visibility:hidden;}

Try it yourself

display:none hides an element, and it will not take up any space. The element will be hidden, and the page will be displayed as the element is not there:

Example
h1.hidden {display:none;}

Try it yourself

CSS Display - Block and Inline Elements

A block element is an element that takes up the full width available, and has a line break before and after it. Examples of block elements:

<h1> <p> <div>

An inline element only takes up as much width as necessary, and does not force line breaks. Examples of inline elements:

<span> <a>

Changing How an Element is Displayed

Changing an inline element to a block element, or vice versa, can be useful for making the page look a specific way, and still follow web standards. The following example displays list items as inline elements:

Example
li {display:inline;}

Try it yourself

The following example displays span elements as block elements:

Example
span {display:block;}

Try it yourself

Note: Changing the display type of an element changes only how the element is displayed, NOT what kind of element it is. For example: An inline element set to display:block is not allowed to have a block element nested inside of it.

More Examples

How to display an element as an inline element. This example demonstrates how to display an element as an inline element. How to display an element as a block element This example demonstrates how to display an element as a block element. How to make a table element collapse This example demonstrates how to make a table element collapse.

CSS Positioning
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Positioning can be tricky sometimes!

Decide which element to display in front! Elements can overlap! Positioning

The CSS positioning properties allow you to position an element. It can also place an element behind another, and specify what should happen when an element's content is too big. Elements can be positioned using the top, bottom, left, and right properties. However, these properties will not work unless the position property is set first. They also work differently depending on the positioning method. There are four different positioning methods.

Static Positioning
HTML elements are positioned static by default. A static positioned element is always positioned according to the normal flow of the page. Static positioned elements are not affected by the top, bottom, left, and right properties.

Fixed Positioning
An element with fixed position is positioned relative to the browser window. It will not move even if the window is scrolled:

Example
p.pos_fixed { position:fixed; top:30px; right:5px; }

Try it yourself

Note: Internet Explorer supports the fixed value only if a !DOCTYPE is specified. Fixed positioned elements are removed from the normal flow. The document and other elements behave like the fixed positioned element does not exist. Fixed positioned elements can overlap other elements.

Relative Positioning
A relative positioned element is positioned relative to its normal position.

Example
h2.pos_left { position:relative; left:-20px; } h2.pos_right { position:relative; left:20px; }

Try it yourself

The content of a relatively positioned elements can be moved and overlap other elements, but the reserved space for the element is still preserved in the normal flow.

Example
h2.pos_top { position:relative; top:-50px; }

Try it yourself

Relatively positioned element are often used as container blocks for absolutely positioned elements.

Absolute Positioning
An absolute position element is positioned relative to the first parent element that has a position other than static. If no such element is found, the containing block is <html>:

Example
h2 { position:absolute; left:100px; top:150px; }

Try it yourself

Absolutely positioned elements are removed from the normal flow. The document and other elements behave like the absolutely positioned element does not exist. Absolutely positioned elements can overlap other elements.

Overlapping Elements
When elements are positioned outside the normal flow, they can overlap other elements. The z-index property specifies the stack order of an element (which element should be placed in front of, or behind, the others). An element can have a positive or negative stack order:

Example
img { position:absolute; left:0px; top:0px; z-index:-1 }

Try it yourself

An element with greater stack order is always in front of an element with a lower stack order. Note: If two positioned elements overlap, without a z-index specified, the element positioned last in the HTML code will be shown on top.

More Examples

Set the shape of an element This example demonstrates how to set the shape of an element. The element is clipped into this shape, and displayed. How to show overflow in an element using scroll This example demonstrates how to set the overflow property to create a scroll bar when an element's content is too big to fit in a specified area. How to set the browser to automatically handle overflow This example demonstrates how to set the browser to automatically handle overflow. Change the cursor This example demonstrates how to change the cursor.

All CSS Positioning Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property bottom

Description Sets the bottom margin edge for a positioned box

Values auto length % inherit shape auto inherit url auto crosshair default pointer move e-resize ne-resize nw-resize n-resize se-resize sw-resize s-resize w-resize text wait help auto length % inherit auto hidden scroll visible inherit absolute fixed relative static

CSS 2

clip

Clips an absolutely positioned element

cursor

Specifies the type of cursor to be displayed

left

Sets the left margin edge for a positioned box

overflow

Specifies what happens if content overflows an element's box

position

Specifies the type of positioning for an element

inherit right Sets the right margin edge for a positioned box auto length % inherit auto length % inherit number auto inherit 2

top

Sets the top margin edge for a positioned box

z-index

Sets the stack order of an element

CSS Float
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What is CSS Float?

With CSS float, an element can be pushed to the left or right, allowing other elements to wrap around it. Float is very often used for images, but it is also useful when working with layouts.

How Elements Float

Elements are floated horizontally, this means that an element can only be floated left or right, not up or down. A floated element will move as far to the left or right as it can. Usually this means all the way to the left or right of the containing element. The elements after the floating element will flow around it. The elements before the floating element will not be affected. If an image is floated to the right, a following text flows around it, to the left:

Example
img { float:right; }

Try it yourself

Floating Elements Next to Each Other

If you place several floating elements after each other, they will float next to each other if there is room. Here we have made an image gallery using the float property:

Example
.thumbnail { float:left; width:110px; height:90px; margin:5px; }

Try it yourself

Turning off Float - Using Clear

Elements after the floating element will flow around it. To avoid this, use the clear property. The clear property specifies which sides of an element other floating elements are not allowed. Add a text line into the image gallery, using the clear property:

Example
.text_line { clear:both;

Try it yourself

More Examples

An image with border and margins that floats to the right in a paragraph Let an image float to the right in a paragraph. Add border and margins to the image. An image with a caption that floats to the right Let an image with a caption float to the right. Let the first letter of a paragraph float to the left Let the first letter of a paragraph float to the left and style the letter. Creating a horizontal menu Use float with a list of hyperlinks to create a horizontal menu. Creating a homepage without tables Use float to create a homepage with a header, footer, left content and main content.

All CSS Float Properties

The number in the "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Property clear

Description Specifies which sides of an element where other floating elements are not allowed

Values left right both none inherit left right none inherit

CSS 1

float

Specifies whether or not a box should float

CSS Horizontal Align

Previous Next Chapter

In CSS, several properties are used to align elements horizontally. Aligning Block Elements

A block element is an element that takes up the full width available, and has a line break before and after it. Examples of block elements:

<h1> <p> <div>

For aligning text, see the CSS Text chapter. In this chapter we will show you how to horizontally align block elements for layout purposes.

Center Aligning Using the margin Property

Block elements can be aligned by setting the left and right margins to "auto". Note: Using margin:auto will not work in Internet Explorer, unless a !DOCTYPE is declared. Setting the left and right margins to auto specifies that they should split the available margin equally. The result is a centered element:

Example
.center { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; width:70%; background-color:#b0e0e6; }

Try it yourself

Tip: Aligning has no effect if the width is 100%. Note: In IE 5 there is a margin handling bug for block elements. To make the example above work in IE5, add some extra code. Try it yourself

Left and Right Aligning Using the position Property

One method of aligning elements is to use absolute positioning:

Example
.right { position:absolute; right:0px; width:300px; background-color:#b0e0e6; }

Try it yourself

Note: Absolute positioned elements are removed from the normal flow, and can overlap elements.

Crossbrowser Compatibility Issues

When aligning elements like this, it is always a good idea to predefine margin and padding for the <body> element. This is to avoid visual differences in different browsers. There is also another problem with IE when using the position property. If a container element (in our case <div class="container">) has a specified width, and the !DOCTYPE declaration is missing, IE will add a 17px margin on the right side. This seems to be space reserved for a scrollbar. Always set the !DOCTYPE declaration when using the position property:

Example
body { margin:0; padding:0; } .container { position:relative; width:100%; } .right { position:absolute; right:0px; width:300px; background-color:#b0e0e6; }

Try it yourself

Left and Right Aligning Using the float Property

One method of aligning elements is to use the float property:

Example
.right { float:right; width:300px; background-color:#b0e0e6; }

Try it yourself

Crossbrowser Compatibility Issues

When aligning elements like this, it is always a good idea to predefine margin and padding for the <body> element. This is to avoid visual differences in different browsers. There is also another problem with IE when using the float property. If the !DOCTYPE declaration is missing, IE will add a 17px margin on the right side. This seems to be space reserved for a scrollbar. Always set the !DOCTYPE declaration when using the float property:

Example

body { margin:0; padding:0; } .right { float:right; width:300px; background-color:#b0e0e6; }

Try it yourself

CSS Pseudo-classes
Previous Next Chapter

CSS pseudo-classes are used to add special effects to some selectors.

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
Links can be displayed in different ways in a CSS-supporting browser:

Example
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 */

Try it yourself

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.

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.

CSS - The :first-child Pseudo-class

The :first-child pseudo-class matches a specified element that is the first child of another element. Note: For :first-child to work in IE a <!DOCTYPE> must be declared.

Match the first <p> element

In the following example, the selector matches any <p> element that is the first child of any element:

Example
<html> <head> <style type="text/css"> p:first-child { color:blue; } </style> </head> <body> <p>I am a strong man.</p> <p>I am a strong man.</p> </body> </html>

Try it yourself

Match the first <i> element in all <p> elements

In the following example, the selector matches the first <i> element in all <p> elements:

Example
<html> <head> <style type="text/css"> p > i:first-child {

font-weight:bold; } </style> </head> <body> <p>I am a <i>strong</i> man. I am a <i>strong</i> man.</p> <p>I am a <i>strong</i> man. I am a <i>strong</i> man.</p> </body> </html>

Try it yourself

Match all <i> elements in all first child <p> elements

In the following example, the selector matches all <i> elements in <p> elements that are the first child of another element:

Example
<html> <head> <style type="text/css"> p:first-child i { color:blue; } </style> </head> <body> <p>I am a <i>strong</i> man. I am a <i>strong</i> man.</p> <p>I am a <i>strong</i> man. I am a <i>strong</i> man.</p> </body> </html>

Try it yourself

CSS - The :lang Pseudo-class

The :lang pseudo-class allows you to define special rules for different languages. Note: Internet Explorer 8 (and higher) supports the :lang pseudo-class if a <!DOCTYPE> is specified. In the example below, the :lang class defines the quotation marks for q elements with lang="no":

Example
<html> <head> <style type="text/css"> q:lang(no) {quotes: "~" "~";} </style> </head> <body> <p>Some text <q lang="no">A quote in a paragraph</q> Some text.</p> </body> </html>

Try it yourself

More Examples

Add different styles to hyperlinks This example demonstrates how to add other styles to hyperlinks. Use of :focus This example demonstrates how to use the :focus pseudo-class.

Pseudo-classes
The "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Pseudo name :active :first-child :focus :hover :lang :link :visited

Description Adds a style to an element that is activated Adds a style to an element that is the first child of another element Adds a style to an element that has keyboard input focus Adds a style to an element when you mouse over it Adds a style to an element with a specific lang attribute Adds a style to an unvisited link Adds a style to a visited link

CSS 1 2 2 1 2 1 1

CSS Pseudo-elements
Previous Next Chapter

CSS pseudo-elements are used to add special effects to some selectors.

Syntax
The syntax of pseudo-elements:

selector:pseudo-element {property:value;}

CSS classes can also be used with pseudo-elements:

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

The :first-line Pseudo-element

The "first-line" pseudo-element is used to add a special style to the first line of a text. In the following example the browser formats the first line of text in a p element according to the style in the "first-line" pseudo-element (where the browser breaks the line, depends on the size of the browser window):

Example
p:first-line { color:#ff0000; font-variant:small-caps; }

Try it yourself

Note: The "first-line" pseudo-element can only be used with block-level elements. Note: 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

The :first-letter Pseudo-element

The "first-letter" pseudo-element is used to add a special style to the first letter of a text:

Example
p:first-letter { color:#ff0000; font-size:xx-large; }

Try it yourself

Note: The "first-letter" pseudo-element can only be used with block-level elements.

Note: 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 CSS Classes

Pseudo-elements can be combined with CSS classes:

p.article:first-letter {color:#ff0000;} <p class="article">A paragraph in an article</p>

The example above will display the first letter of all paragraphs with class="article", in red.

Multiple Pseudo-elements
Several pseudo-elements can also be combined. In the following example, the first letter of a paragraph will be red, in an xx-large font size. The rest of the first line will be blue, and in small-caps. The rest of the paragraph will be the default font size and color:

Example
p:first-letter { color:#ff0000; font-size:xx-large; } p:first-line { color:#0000ff; font-variant:small-caps; }

Try it yourself

CSS - The :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 each <h1> element:

Example
h1:before { content:url(smiley.gif); }

Try it yourself

CSS - The :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 each <h1> element:

Example
h1:after { content:url(smiley.gif); }

Try it yourself

Pseudo-elements
The "CSS" column indicates in which CSS version the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).

Pseudo name :after :before :first-letter :first-line

Description Adds content after an element Adds content before an element Adds a style to the first character of a text Adds a style to the first line of a text

CSS 2 2 1 1

CSS Navigation Bar

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Demo: Navigation Bar

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Navigation Bars
Having easy-to-use navigation is important for any web site. With CSS you can transform boring HTML menus into good-looking navigation bars.

Navigation Bar = List of Links

A navigation bar needs standard HTML as a base. In our examples we will build the navigation bar from a standard HTML list. A navigation bar is basically a list of links, so using the <ul> and <li> elements makes perfect sense:

Example
<ul> <li><a <li><a <li><a <li><a </ul> href="default.asp">Home</a></li> href="news.asp">News</a></li> href="contact.asp">Contact</a></li> href="about.asp">About</a></li>

Try it yourself

Now let's remove the bullets and the margins and padding from the list:

Example
ul { list-style-type:none; margin:0; padding:0; }

Try it yourself

Example explained:

list-style-type:none - Removes the bullets. A navigation bar does not need list markers Setting margins and padding to 0 to remove browser default settings

The code in the example above is the standard code used in both vertical, and horizontal navigation bars.

Vertical Navigation Bar

To build a vertical navigation bar we only need to style the <a> elements, in addition to the code above:

Example
a { display:block; width:60px; }

Try it yourself

Example explained:

display:block - Displaying the links as block elements makes the whole link area clickable (not just the text), and it allows us to specify the width width:60px - Block elements take up the full width available by default. We want to specify a 60 px width

Tip: Also take a look at our fully styled vertical navigation bar example. Note: Always specify the width for <a> elements in a vertical navigation bar. If you omit the width, IE6 can produce unexpected results.

Horizontal Navigation Bar

There are two ways to create a horizontal navigation bar. Using inline or floating list items. Both methods work fine, but if you want the links to be the same size, you have to use the floating method.

Inline List Items

One way to build a horizontal navigation bar is to specify the <li> elements as inline, in addition to the "standard" code above:

Example
li { display:inline; }

Try it yourself

Example explained:

display:inline; - By default, <li> elements are block elements. Here, we remove the line breaks before and after each list item, to display them on one line

Tip: Also take a look at our fully styled horizontal navigation bar example.

Floating List Items

In the example above the links have different widths. For all the links to have an equal width, float the <li> elements and specify a width for the <a> elements:

Example
li { float:left; } a { display:block; width:60px; }

Try it yourself

Example explained:

float:left - use float to get block elements to slide next to each other display:block - Displaying the links as block elements makes the whole link area clickable (not just the text), and it allows us to specify the width width:60px - Since block elements take up the full width available, they cannot float next to each other. We specify the width of the links to 60px

Tip: Also take a look at our fully styled horizontal navigation bar example.

CSS Image Gallery

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CSS can be used to create an image gallery.

Add a description of the image here

Add a description of the image here

Add a description of the image here

Add a description of the image here

Image Gallery
The following image gallery is created with CSS:

Example
<html> <head> <style type="text/css"> div.img { margin:2px; border:1px solid #0000ff; height:auto; width:auto; float:left; text-align:center; } div.img img { display:inline; margin:3px; border:1px solid #ffffff; } div.img a:hover img { border:1px solid #0000ff; } div.desc { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; width:120px; margin:2px; } </style> </head> <body> <div class="img"> <a target="_blank" href="klematis_big.htm"> <img src="klematis_small.jpg" alt="Klematis" width="110" height="90" /> </a> <div class="desc">Add a description of the image here</div> </div> <div class="img"> <a target="_blank" href="klematis2_big.htm"> <img src="klematis2_small.jpg" alt="Klematis" width="110" height="90" /> </a> <div class="desc">Add a description of the image here</div> </div> <div class="img"> <a target="_blank" href="klematis3_big.htm"> <img src="klematis3_small.jpg" alt="Klematis" width="110" height="90" /> </a> <div class="desc">Add a description of the image here</div> </div> <div class="img"> <a target="_blank" href="klematis4_big.htm"> <img src="klematis4_small.jpg" alt="Klematis" width="110" height="90" />

</a> <div class="desc">Add a description of the image here</div> </div> </body> </html>

Try it yourself

CSS Image Opacity / Transparency

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Creating transparent images with CSS is easy.

Try it Yourself - Examples

Creating transparent images - mouseover effect Creating a transparent box with text on a background image

Note: This is not yet a CSS standard. However, it works in all modern browsers, and is a part of the W3C CSS 3 recommendation.

Example 1 - Creating a Transparent Image

First we will show you how to create a transparent image with CSS. Regular image:

The same image with transparency:

Look at the following source code:

<img src="klematis.jpg" width="150" height="113" alt="klematis" style="opacity:0.4;filter:alpha(opacity=40)" />

Firefox uses the property opacity:x for transparency, while IE uses filter:alpha(opacity=x). Tip: The CSS3 syntax for transparency is opacity:x. In Firefox (opacity:x) x can be a value from 0.0 - 1.0. A lower value makes the element more transparent. In IE (filter:alpha(opacity=x)) x can be a value from 0 - 100. A lower value makes the element more transparent.

Example 2 - Image Transparency - Mouseover Effect

Mouse over the images:

The source code looks like this:

<img src="klematis.jpg" style="opacity:0.4;filter:alpha(opacity=40)" onmouseover="this.style.opacity=1;this.filters.alpha.opacity=100" onmouseout="this.style.opacity=0.4;this.filters.alpha.opacity=40" /> <img src="klematis2.jpg" style="opacity:0.4;filter:alpha(opacity=40)" onmouseover="this.style.opacity=1;this.filters.alpha.opacity=100" onmouseout="this.style.opacity=0.4;this.filters.alpha.opacity=40" />

We see that the first line of the source code is similar to the source code in Example 1. In addition, we have added an onmouseover attribute and an onmouseout attribute. The onmouseover attribute defines what will happen when the mouse pointer moves over the image. In this case we want the image to NOT be transparent when we move the mouse pointer over it. The syntax for this in Firefox is: this.style.opacity=1 and the syntax in IE is: this.filters.alpha.opacity=100. When the mouse pointer moves away from the image, we want the image to be transparent again. This is done in the onmouseout attribute.

Example 3 - Text in Transparent Box

This is some text that is placed in the transparent box. This is some text that is placed in the transparent box. This is some text that is placed in the transparent box. This is some text that is placed in the transparent box. This is some text that is placed in the transparent box.

The source code looks like this:

<html> <head> <style type="text/css"> div.background { width:500px; height:250px; background:url(klematis.jpg) repeat; border:2px solid black; } div.transbox { width:400px; height:180px; margin:30px 50px; background-color:#ffffff; border:1px solid black; /* for IE */ filter:alpha(opacity=60); /* CSS3 standard */ opacity:0.6; } div.transbox p { margin:30px 40px; font-weight:bold; color:#000000; } </style> </head> <body> <div class="background"> <div class="transbox"> <p>This is some text that This is some text that is This is some text that is This is some text that is This is some text that is </p> </div> </div> </body> </html>

is placed placed in placed in placed in placed in

in the transparent box. the transparent box. the transparent box. the transparent box. the transparent box.

First, we create a div element (class="background") with a fixed height and width, a background image, and a border. Then we create a smaller div (class="transbox") inside the first div element. This div also have a fixed width, a background image, and a border. In addition we make this div transparent. Inside the transparent div, we add some text inside a p element.

CSS Image Sprites

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Image Sprites
An image sprite is a collection of images put into a single image.

A web page with many images can take a long time to load and generates multiple server requests. Using image sprites will reduce the number of server requests and save bandwidth.

Image Sprites - Simple Example

Instead of using three separate images, we use this single image ("img_navsprites.gif"):

With CSS, we can show just the part of the image we need. In the following example the CSS specifies which part of the "img_navsprites.gif" image to show:

Example
img.home { width:46px; height:44px; background:url(img_navsprites.gif) 0 0; }

Try it yourself

Example explained:

<img class="home" src="img_trans.gif" /> - Only defines a small transparent image because the src attribute cannot be empty. The displayed image will be the background image we specify in CSS width:46px;height:44px; - Defines the portion of the image we want to use background:url(img_navsprites.gif) 0 0; - Defines the background image and its position (left 0px, top 0px)

This is the easiest way to use image sprites, now we want to expand it by using links and hover effects.

Image Sprites - Create a Navigation List

We want to use the sprite image ("img_navsprites.gif") to create a navigation list. We will use an HTML list, because it can be a link and also supports a background image:

Example
#navlist{position:relative;} #navlist li{margin:0;padding:0;list-style:none;position:absolute;top:0;} #navlist li, #navlist a{height:44px;display:block;} #home{left:0px;width:46px;} #home{background:url('img_navsprites.gif') 0 0;} #prev{left:63px;width:43px;} #prev{background:url('img_navsprites.gif') -47px 0;} #next{left:129px;width:43px;} #next{background:url('img_navsprites.gif') -91px 0;}

Try it yourself

Example explained:

#navlist{position:relative;} - position is set to relative to allow absolute positioning inside it #navlist li{margin:0;padding:0;list-style:none;position:absolute;top:0;} - margin and padding is set to 0, list-style is removed, and all list items are absolute positioned #navlist li, #navlist a{height:44px;display:block;} - the height of all the images are 44px

Now start to position and style for each specific part:

#home{left:0px;width:46px;} - Positioned all the way to the left, and the width of the image is 46px #home{background:url(img_navsprites.gif) 0 0;} - Defines the background image and its position (left 0px, top 0px) #prev{left:63px;width:43px;} - Positioned 63px to the right (#home width 46px + some extra space between items), and the width is 43px. #prev{background:url('img_navsprites.gif') -47px 0;} - Defines the background image 47px to the right (#home width 46px + 1px line divider) #next{left:129px;width:43px;}- Positioned 129px to the right (start of #prev is 63px + #prev width 43px + extra space), and the width is 43px. #next{background:url('img_navsprites.gif') no-repeat -91px 0;} - Defines the background image 91px to the right (#home width 46px + 1px line divider + #prev width 43px + 1px line divider )

Image Sprites - Hover Effect

Now we want to add a hover effect to our navigation list. Our new image ("img_navsprites_hover.gif") contains three navigation images and three images to use for hover effects:

Because this is one single image, and not six separate files, there will be no loading delay when a user hovers over the image. We only add three lines of code to add the hover effect:

Example
#home a:hover{background: url('img_navsprites_hover.gif') 0 -45px;} #prev a:hover{background: url('img_navsprites_hover.gif') -47px -45px;} #next a:hover{background: url('img_navsprites_hover.gif') -91px -45px;}

Try it yourself

Example explained:

Since the list item contains a link, we can use the :hover pseudo-class #home a:hover{background: transparent url(img_navsprites_hover.gif) 0 -45px;} - For all three hover images we specify the same background position, only 45px further down

CSS Media Types

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Media Types allow you to specify how documents will be presented in different media. The document can be displayed differently on the screen, on the paper, with an aural browser, etc.

Media Types
Some CSS properties are only designed for a certain media. For example the "voice-family" property is designed for aural user agents. Some other properties can be used for different media types. For example, the "font-size" property can be used for both screen and print media, but perhaps with different values. A document usually needs a larger font-size on a screen than on paper, and sans-serif fonts are easier to read on the screen, while serif fonts are easier to read on paper.

The @media Rule

The @media rule allows different style rules for different media in the same style sheet. The style in the example below tells the browser to display a 14 pixels Verdana font on the screen. But if the page is printed, it will be in a 10 pixels Times font. Notice that the font-weight is set to bold, both on screen and on paper:

<html> <head> <style> @media screen { p.test {font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:14px;} } @media print { p.test {font-family:times,serif;font-size:10px;} } @media screen,print { p.test {font-weight:bold;} } </style> </head> <body> .... </body> </html>

See it yourself ! If you are using Mozilla/Firefox or IE 5+ and print this page, you will see that the paragraph under "Media Types" will be displayed in another font, and have a smaller font size than the rest of the text.

Different Media Types

Note: The media type names are not case-sensitive.

Media Type all aural

Description Used for all media type devices Used for speech and sound synthesizers

braille embossed handheld print projection screen tty tv

Used for braille tactile feedback devices Used for paged braille printers Used for small or handheld devices Used for printers Used for projected presentations, like slides Used for computer screens Used for media using a fixed-pitch character grid, like teletypes and terminals Used for television-type devices

CSS Attribute Selectors

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Style HTML Elements With Specific Attributes

It is possible to style HTML elements that have specific attributes, not just class and id. Note: Internet Explorer 7 (and higher) supports attribute selectors only if a !DOCTYPE is specified. Attribute selection is NOT supported in IE6 and lower.

Attribute Selector
The example below styles all elements with a title attribute:

Example
[title] { color:blue; }

Try it yourself

Attribute and Value Selector

The example below styles all elements with title="W3Schools":

Example
[title=W3Schools]

{ border:5px solid green; }

Try it yourself

Attribute and Value Selector - Multiple Values

The example below styles all elements with a title attribute that contains a specified value. This works even if the attribute has space separated values:

Example
[title~=hello] { color:blue; }

Try it yourself

The example below styles all elements with a lang attribute that contains a specified value. This works even if the attribute has hyphen ( - ) separated values:

Example
[lang|=en] { color:blue; }

Try it yourself

Styling Forms
The attribute selectors are particularly useful for styling forms without class or ID:

Example
input[type="text"] { width:150px; display:block; margin-bottom:10px; background-color:yellow; } input[type="button"] { width:120px; margin-left:35px; display:block; }

Try it yourself

CSS Don't
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Here are some technologies you should try to avoid when using CSS.

Internet Explorer Behaviors

What is it? Internet Explorer 5 introduced behaviors. Behaviors are a way to add behaviors to HTML elements with the use of CSS styles. Why avoid it? The behavior attribute is only supported by Internet Explorer. What to use instead? Use JavaScript and the HTML DOM instead.

Example 1 - Mouseover Highlight

The following HTML file has a <style> element that defines a behavior for the <h1> element:

<html> <head> <style type="text/css"> h1 { behavior:url(behave.htc); } </style> </head> <body> <h1>Mouse over me!!!</h1> </body> </html>

The XML document "behave.htc" is shown below:

Example (IE 5+ Only)

The behavior file contains a JavaScript and event handlers for the elements.

<attach for="element" event="onmouseover" handler="hig_lite" /> <attach for="element" event="onmouseout" handler="low_lite" /> <script type="text/javascript"> function hig_lite() { element.style.color='red'; } function low_lite() { element.style.color='blue'; } </script>

Try it yourself

Example 2 - Typewriter Simulation

The following HTML file has a <style> element that defines a behavior for elements with an id of "typing":

<html> <head> <style type="text/css"> #typing { behavior:url(behave_typing.htc); font-family:"courier new"; } </style> </head> <body> <span id="typing" speed="100">IE5 introduced DHTML behaviors. Behaviors are a way to add DHTML functionality to HTML elements with the ease of CSS.<br /><br />How do behaviors work?<br /> By using XML we can link behaviors to any element in a web page and manipulate that element.</p> </span> </body> </html>

The XML document "typing.htc" is shown below:

Example (IE 5+ Only)

<attach for="window" event="onload" handler="beginTyping" /> <method name="type" /> <script type="text/javascript"> var i,text1,text2,textLength,t; function beginTyping() { i=0; text1=element.innerText; textLength=text1.length; element.innerText=""; text2=""; t=window.setInterval(element.id+".type()",speed); } function type() { text2=text2+text1.substring(i,i+1); element.innerText=text2; i=i+1; if (i==textLength) { clearInterval(t); } } </script>

Try it yourself

You Have Learned CSS, Now What?

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CSS Summary
This tutorial has taught you how to create style sheets to control the style and layout of multiple web sites at once. You have learned how to use CSS to add backgrounds, format text, add and format borders, and specify padding and margins of elements. You have also learned how to position an element, control the visibility and size of an element, set the shape of an element, place an element behind another, and to add special effects to some selectors, like links. For more information on CSS, please take a look at our CSS examples and our CSS reference.

Now You Know CSS, What's Next?

The next step is to learn XHTML and JavaScript. XHTML XHTML reformulates HTML 4.01 in XML. If you want to learn more about XHTML, please visit our XHTML tutorial. JavaScript JavaScript can make your web site more dynamic. A static web site is nice when you just want to show flat content, but a dynamic web site can react to events and allow user interaction. JavaScript is the most popular scripting language on the internet and it works with all major browsers. If you want to learn more about JavaScript, please visit our JavaScript tutorial.

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