How can I write a ':hover' condition for 'a:before' and 'a:after'?
CssCss SelectorsPseudo ElementPseudo ClassCss Problem Overview
How can I write :hover and :visited condition for a:before?
I'm trying a:before:hover, but it's not working.
Css Solutions
Solution 1 - Css
This depends on what you're actually trying to do.
If you simply wish to apply styles to a :before pseudo-element when the a element matches a pseudo-class, you need to write a:hover:before or a:visited:before instead. Notice the pseudo-element comes after the pseudo-class (and in fact, at the very end of the entire selector). Notice also that they are two different things; calling them both "pseudo-selectors" is going to confuse you once you run into syntax problems such as this one.
If you're writing CSS3, you can denote a pseudo-element with double colons to make this distinction clearer. Hence, a:hover::before and a:visited::before. But if you're developing for legacy browsers such as IE8 and older, then you can get away with using single colons just fine.
This specific order of pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements is stated in the spec:
> One pseudo-element may be appended to the last sequence of simple selectors in a selector. > > A sequence of simple selectors is a chain of simple selectors that are not separated by a combinator. It always begins with a type selector or a universal selector. No other type selector or universal selector is allowed in the sequence. > > A simple selector is either a type selector, universal selector, attribute selector, class selector, ID selector, or pseudo-class.
A pseudo-class is a simple selector. A pseudo-element, however, is not, even though it resembles a simple selector.
However, for user-action pseudo-classes such as :hover1, if you need this effect to apply only when the user interacts with the pseudo-element itself but not the a element, then this is not possible other than through some obscure layout-dependent workaround. As implied by the text, standard CSS pseudo-elements cannot currently have pseudo-classes. In that case, you will need to apply :hover to an actual child element instead of a pseudo-element.
1 Of course, this does not apply to link pseudo-classes such as :visited as in the question, since pseudo-elements aren't links.
Solution 2 - Css
Write a:hover::before instead of a::before:hover: example.
Solution 3 - Css
To change a menu link's text on mouseover (different language text on hover), here is the
HTML:
<a align="center" href="#"><span>kannada</span></a>
CSS:
span {
font-size: 12px;
}
a {
color: green;
}
a:hover span {
display: none;
}
a:hover:before {
color: red;
font-size: 24px;
content: "ಕನ್ನಡ";
}
Solution 4 - Css
Try to use .card-listing:hover::after, hover, and after using ::. It will work.
Solution 5 - Css
Or you can set pointer-events:none to your a element and pointer-event:all to your a:before element, and then add hover CSS to a element:
a{
pointer-events: none;
}
a:before{
pointer-events: all
}
a:hover:before{
background: blue;
}
Solution 6 - Css
BoltClock's answer is correct. The only thing I want to append is that if you want to only select the pseudo element, put in a span.
For example:
<li><span data-icon='u'></span> List Element </li>
instead of:
<li> data-icon='u' List Element</li>
This way you can simply say
ul [data-icon]:hover::before {color: #f7f7f7;}
which will only highlight the pseudo element, not the entire li element.
Solution 7 - Css
You can also restrict your action to just one class using the right pointed bracket (">"), as I have done in this code:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Document</title>
<style type="text/css">
span {
font-size: 12px;
}
a {
color: green;
}
.test1>a:hover span {
display: none;
}
.test1>a:hover:before {
color: red;
content: "Apple";
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="test1">
<a href="#"><span>Google</span></a>
</div>
<div class="test2">
<a href="#"><span>Apple</span></a>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Note: The hover:before switch works only on the .test1 class