Freelate

One of the primary methods for applying styles to HTML components is using CSS type selectors. A type selector uses the name of the HTML tag to target specific items. It enables you to add styles to any element in your HTML page that uses a certain tag type.

What is CSS Type Selector?

A type selector's fundamental syntax is simple to understand. Use the tag's name as the selector, and then the styles you wish to use to target components of a certain tag. For instance, you may utilize the given CSS code to target all "<p>" (paragraph) components and color their text red:

p {
  color: red;
}

All "<p>" elements' color properties are changed to red by this code. The HTML document's "<p>" elements will change.

Advanced Usage of CSS Type Selector

Combining Type Selectors with Other Selectors:

To target items more precisely, type selectors can be together with other selectors. To style just particular components with a class, for instance, you may combine a type selection with a class selector:

/* Targets all <p> elements with the class "highlight" */
p.highlight {
  background-color: yellow;
}

Only `<p>` elements with the class "highlight" will have a yellow background.

Descendant Selectors:

Type selectors can be used with child selectors to target items that are the children of a certain parent element. For instance:

/* Targets <em> elements inside <p> elements */
p em {
  font-style: italic;
}

In this instance, the italic font style will only be applied to "em" elements that are children of "<p>" elements.

Pseudo-classes and Pseudo-elements:

To style certain states or portions of elements, type selectors may also be utilized in combination with pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements. For instance:

/* Targets the first line of every <p> element */
p::first-line {
  font-weight: bold;
}
/* Targets the first <p> element of a container with class "article" */
.article p:first-child {
  margin-top: 0;
}

Importance of Specificity

Specificity should be considered when using type selectors together with other selectors. If several rules target the same element simultaneously, the element's specificity decides which styles will be utilized. A selector's priority increases with its level of specificity. For instance, an ID selector (such as '#my-element') is more particular than a type selector and will replace the styles it applies.

To guarantee that your styles are used effectively and to prevent unintentional conflicts, it is crucial to understand specificity.

In conclusion, type selectors are a strong and crucial component of CSS. In addition to being used with other selectors, pseudo-classes, and pseudo-elements to provide more specialized and targeted styles, they enable you to apply styles to elements depending on their HTML tag names. One can use CSS type selectors to efficiently control how your HTML components are displayed by understanding the fundamentals and experimenting with more complex methods.

How to Use a Universal Selector in CSS?

Using the universal selector ('*') in CSS, all components on a web page can be chosen and given a specific style. It matches every element type, comprising all HTML elements such as "div>," "p," "h1," and others, as well as any new elements added to HTML in the future.

Just follow these instructions to utilize the universal selector in your CSS code:

Open your CSS file or add the CSS code to your HTML document's "style" tag.
Apply the '*' character as the selection to target every element on the page.
Specify the styles used inside the curly brackets "."

Example

Here is an easy example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Universal Selector Example</title>
  <style>
    /* Applying some styles to all elements on the page */
    * {
     
margin: 0;
      padding: 0;
      box-sizing: border-box;
      font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
    }
    /* Specific styles for a certain element (e.g., paragraphs) */
    p {
      color: blue;
      font-size: 16px;
      line-height: 1.5;
    }
    /* Specific styles for a certain element (e.g., headings) */
    h1, h2, h3 {
      color: red;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Hello, I am a Heading</h1>
  <p>This is a paragraph with some text.</p>
  <p>Another paragraph here.</p>
</body>
</html>

The default font family in the example above is set to Arial, sans-serif, and the universal selector '*' establishes several common styles for all elements, including zero margins and padding, the use of the 'box-size: border-box attribute for more predictable sizing, and zero margins and padding. There are additional defined styles for headers ('<h1>', '<h2>', and '<h3>') and paragraphs ('<p>').

Always use caution when applying styles to all items using the universal selector since it may have unforeseen effects or negative impacts on performance.

Next TopicFoundation CSS

← prev next →