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CSS CSS Foundations Selectors Link and User Action Pseudo-Classes

Natalia C.
Natalia C.
2,027 Points
Posted by Natalia C.
Natalia C.
2,027 Points

What's the usage of the ':link' pseudo-class?

I'm not sure I'm getting this.

I'm already familiar with :visited & :hover pseudo-classes.

But I can't understand when and why we should use the :link

I mean yes, I can understand that it refers to UNvisited links. But I still can't get the point.

If we style 'a' elements to over-write the default blue color etc, let's say to:

a {
  text-decoration: none;
  color: green;
}

And we want the visited links to over-write the default purple, let's say to:

a:visited {
  text-decoration: none;
  font-weight: 800;
  color: red;
}

We have what we want. Unvisited links will get their styling from 'a', and visited from 'a:visited'.

What exactly is the point of ':link' ???

When should we use it & why?

:/

(thanks in advance! hope I'm making sense.....)

2 Answers

Anna Dadej
Anna Dadej
10,707 Points
Anna Dadej
Anna Dadej
10,707 Points

Hi,

a:link applies only to anchor tags that have a href=" " attribiute, not a name=" " . But in HTML5 a name=" " attribute is no longer supported and the a tag is always a hyperlink or placeholder for a hyperlink, so you don't have to bother :)

Natalia C.
Natalia C.
2,027 Points
Natalia C.
Natalia C.
2,027 Points

You just answered another question of mine! :) After writing my first post, I went back to re-watch the video in case there was something I didn't pay much attention to the first time. And I noticed that Guil said that it matches a elements that have a 'href' attribute, so I started wondering in what universe won't we have a 'href' attribute!! hahahaha

Thanks!

So, it doesn't actually make a difference (today, with HTML5).

Martynas Bucinskas
Martynas Bucinskas
4,429 Points
Martynas Bucinskas
Martynas Bucinskas
4,429 Points

I'm not going to create a new thread for my question. I think it kinda fits this one.

So for example, I want to get one of these effects only on a SPECIFIC button, link on my webpage. Is there a certain combination to accomplish it?

huckleberry
huckleberry
14,636 Points
huckleberry
huckleberry
14,636 Points

You're talking about targeting only one thing so I'd say your best bet there is to just give that button an ID and then use that ID with one of these pseudo classes.