CSS Links

Links can be styled in different ways.

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Styling Links

Links can be styled with any CSS property (e.g. color, font-family, background, etc.).

Example

a {
    color: #FF0000;
}

In addition, links 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

/* unvisited link */
a:link {
    color: #FF0000;
}

/* visited link */
a:visited {
    color: #00FF00;
}

/* mouse over link */ a:hover {
    color: #FF00FF;
}

/* selected link */
a:active {
    color: #0000FF;
}

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

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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;
}

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;
}