Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

CSS CSS Foundations Selectors Link and User Action Pseudo-Classes

Sean Flanagan
Sean Flanagan
33,235 Points
Posted by Sean Flanagan
Sean Flanagan
33,235 Points

Background colour of links

Hi. I've set the background colour of my links to yellow but when I hover my pointer over them, the yellow doesn't show. Does anyone know why, please?

Here's my HTML:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Link and User Action Pseudo-Classes</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/css_foundations_style.css">
</head>
<body>
    <h1>CSS Pseudo-Classes</h1>
    <a href="#a">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet</a>
    <p>Consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus sed egestas tortor, vel tincidunt dolor. Maecenas euismod auctor massa ut convallis.Nullam tempor erat eget nulla auctor modeltie.</p>
    <a href="#b">Duis ut velit faucibus</a>
    <p>Proin orci arcu, dapibus vel faucibus in, commodo in nunc. Vestibulum erat dolor laoreet nec cursus non, luctus ut elit. In sed congue lectus, id ullamcorper massa.</p>
    <a href="#c" target="_blank">View more in a new tab &raquo;</a>
    <form>
        <input type="text" name="name" placeholder="name">
        <input type="text" name="email" placeholder="email">
        <input type="submit" name="submit">
    </form>
</body>
</html>

And here's my CSS:

body {
    margin: 0;
    padding: .8% 24%;
    font: 1.1em/1.5 sans-serif;
}

a,
p {
    padding 3px;
}

form {
    margin-top: 30px;
}

input {
    font-size: inherit;
}

input[type="text"] {
    display: block;
    margin-bottom: 15px;
    padding: 10px;
    width: 250px;
    border: 2px solid steelblue;
}

input[type="submit"] {
    width: 100px;
    height: 40px;
    border: none;
    background: steelblue;
    color: white;
    font-size: inherit;
}

/* Pseudo-classes */

a:link {
    color: red;
}

a:visited {
    color: green;
}

a:active {
    font-size: 26px;
}

a:hover {
    color: white;
    text-decoration: none;
    background-color: tomato;
}

:focus {
    background-color: yellow;
}

Thanks for any help that gets offered.

3 Answers

Carman A
Carman A
7,672 Points
Carman A
Carman A
7,672 Points

Does it turn white, with tomato background?

Carman A
Carman A
7,672 Points

If so delete the a:hover selector/pseudo element and following code.

Nicholas Olsen
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Nicholas Olsen
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 19,342 Points
Nicholas Olsen
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Nicholas Olsen
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 19,342 Points

Here is the problem. :focus {} targets any element that currently has the focus. So, if you it the tab button a few times, you'll see your different links light up the way you want them to.

If you want to change the background color to yellow when the user hovers over it, you'll need to change the background-color from tomato to yellow in the a:hover selector.

Sean Flanagan
Sean Flanagan
33,235 Points
Sean Flanagan
Sean Flanagan
33,235 Points

Hi Nicholas. I changed the background colour to yellow like you said and the links went yellow when I hovered the pointer over them. Thanks.