css - links

This tutorial will teach you how to set different properties of a hyper link using CSS. You can set following properties of a hyper link:

We will revisit same properties when we will discuss Pseudo-Classes of CSS.

  • The :link Signifies unvisited hyperlinks.

  • The :visited Signifies visited hyperlinks.

  • The :hover Signifies an element that currently has the user's mouse pointer hovering over it.

  • The :active Signifies an element on which the user is currently clicking.

Usually these all properties are kept in the header part of HTML document.

Remember a:hover MUST come after a:link and a:visited in the CSS definition in order to be effective. Also, a:active MUST come after a:hover in the CSS definition as follows.

<style type="text/css">
a:link {color: #000000}
a:visited {color: #006600}
a:hover {color: #FFCC00}
a:active {color: #FF00CC}
</style>

Now we will see how to use these properties to give different effects to hyperlinks.

Set the color of Links:

Following is the example which demonstrates how to set the link color. Possible value could be any color name in any valid format.

<style type="text/css">
a:link {color:#000000}
</style>
<a href="index.html">Black Link</a>

This will produce following black link:

Black Link

Set the color of Visited Links:

Following is the example which demonstrates how to set the color of visited links. Possible value could be any color name in any valid format.

<style type="text/css">
a:visited {color: #006600}
</style>
<a href="index.html">Click this link</a>

This will produce following link. Once you will click this link, it will change its color to green.

Click this link

Change the color of links when mouse is over:

Following is the example which demonstrates how to change the color of links when we bring a mouse pointer over that link. Possible value could be any color name in any valid format.

<style type="text/css">
a:hover {color: #FFCC00}
</style>
<a href="index.html">Bring Mouse Here</a>

This will produce following link. Now you bring your mouse over this link and you will see that it changes its color to yellow.

Bring Mouse Here

Change the color of active links:

Following is the example which demonstrates how to change the color of active links. Possible value could be any color name in any valid format.

<style type="text/css">
a:active {color: #FF00CC}
</style>
<a href="index.html">Click This Link</a>

This will produce following link. This will change it color to pink when user clicks it.

Click This Link


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