CSS Pseudo-elements

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What are Pseudo-Elements?

A CSS pseudo-element is used to style specific 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 an element
Style the markers of list items
Style the viewbox behind a dialog box

Syntax

The syntax of pseudo-elements:

selector::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.

The following example formats the first line of the text in all <p> elements:

Example

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

Try it Yourself »

Note: 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.

The ::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:

Example

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

Try it Yourself »

Note: 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:

Example

p.intro::first-letter {
color: #ff0000;
font-size: 200%;
}

Try it Yourself »

The example above will display the first letter of paragraphs with class="intro", in red and in a larger size.

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 the content of 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 the content of each <h1> element:

Example

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

Try it Yourself »

CSS - The ::marker Pseudo-element

The ::marker pseudo-element selects the markers of list items.

The following example styles the markers of list items:

Example

::marker {
color: red;
font-size: 23px;
}

Try it Yourself »

CSS - The ::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:

Example

::selection {
color: red;
background: yellow;
}

Try it Yourself »