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Links can be styled in different ways.
Styling Links
Links can be styled with any CSS property (e.g. color, font-family, background, etc.).
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
- 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
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 */
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;}
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;}
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 display links as boxes.
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