CSS Links
Text Link Text Link Link Button Link Button
CSS Styling Links
HTML links can be styled with many CSS properties, like
color,
text-decoration,
background-color,
font-size,
font-weight,
font-family, etc.).
Example
Style a link with a color, background-color, and a bold font-weight:
a {
color: hotpink;
background-color: yellow;
font-weight: bold;
}
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Styling Links Depending on State
In addition, links can be styled differently depending on what state they are in.
The four link states are:
:link- a normal, unvisited link:visited- a link the user has visited:hover- a link when the user mouses over it:active- a link the moment it is clicked
When setting the style for link states, there are some order rules:
- :hover must come after :link and :visited
- :active must come after :hover
Example
Style links according to link state:
/* unvisited link */
a:link {
color: red;
}
/* visited
link */
a:visited {
color: green;
}
/* mouse over link */
a:hover {
color: hotpink;
}
/* selected link */
a:active {
color: blue;
}
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CSS 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;
}
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CSS Links - Background Color
The background-color property can be used to specify a background color for links:
Example
a:link {
background-color: yellow;
}
a:visited {
background-color: cyan;
}
a:hover {
background-color: lightgreen;
}
a:active {
background-color: hotpink;
}
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CSS Link Buttons
CSS can be used to create HTML link buttons:
Example
Combine several CSS properties to display links as boxes/buttons
a:link, a:visited {
background-color: #f44336;
color: white;
padding: 14px 25px;
text-align: center;
text-decoration: none;
display: inline-block;
}
a:hover, a:active {
background-color: red;
}
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Example
Another example of how to create link boxes/buttons:
a:link, a:visited {
background-color: white;
color: black;
border: 2px solid green;
padding: 10px 20px;
text-align:
center;
text-decoration: none;
display: inline-block;
}
a:hover, a:active
{
background-color: green;
color: white;
}
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More Examples
Example
This example demonstrates how to add other styles to HTML links:
a.one:link {color:red;}
a.one:visited {color:blue;}
a.one:hover
{color:orange;}
a.two:link {color:red;}
a.two:visited {color:blue;}
a.two:hover {font-size:150%;}
a.three:link {color:red;}
a.three:visited {color:blue;}
a.three:hover {background:lightgreen;}
a.four:link {color:red;}
a.four:visited {color:blue;}
a.four:hover
{font-family:monospace;}
a.five:link {color:red;text-decoration:none;}
a.five:visited {color:blue;text-decoration:none;}
a.five:hover
{text-decoration:underline;}
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Example
This example demonstrates the different types of cursors (can be useful for links):
<span style="cursor: auto">auto</span><br>
<span style="cursor:
crosshair">crosshair</span><br>
<span style="cursor:
default">default</span><br>
<span style="cursor: e-resize">e-resize</span><br>
<span style="cursor: help">help</span><br>
<span style="cursor:
move">move</span><br>
<span style="cursor: n-resize">n-resize</span><br>
<span style="cursor: ne-resize">ne-resize</span><br>
<span style="cursor:
nw-resize">nw-resize</span><br>
<span style="cursor:
pointer">pointer</span><br>
<span style="cursor: progress">progress</span><br>
<span style="cursor: s-resize">s-resize</span><br>
<span style="cursor:
se-resize">se-resize</span><br>
<span style="cursor: sw-resize">sw-resize</span><br>
<span style="cursor: text">text</span><br>
<span style="cursor:
w-resize">w-resize</span><br>
<span style="cursor: wait">wait</span>
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Exercise?What is this?
Test your skills by answering a few questions about the topics of this page
What is the correct CSS pseudo-class to style a link when it has been visited?
