CSS Attributes Index   Pseudo-class Attributes

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Sets or retrieves the style of the active hypertext link ( anchor element ) in a document.

CSS	[ A ] :active { attribute1:parameter1 [ ; attribute2:parameter2 [ ; . . . ] ] }
Script	N/A

attribute	Any attribute applicable to text.
parameter	Any of the range of values available to the corresponding attribute.

This pseudo-class is read/write with a default value that is browser-specific.

Active means that the user is currently navigating the link. Setting the active pseudo-class is often used in conjunction with the following pseudo-elements to define the various states of a link: link, visited, and hover.

Using pseudo-classes on elements other than the A element has no effect.

The following demonstrates use of the a:active attribute in an embedded stylesheet to set the color of the current active hyperlink on a page. When used in an external stylesheet which is linked to all pages of a site, this same declaration will apply the style to the current active link in any page of the site. The below styles are actually what are used on this site for hyperlinks.

<style type="text/css">
<!--
   a:link, a:visited {
      color: #005 }
   a:active {
      background-color: #eec; color: #500 }
   a:hover {
      color: #500 }
-->
</style>

The CSS :active attribute can also be used for contextual hyperlinks, or links which are contained within other selectors. For instance:

ul a:link, ul a:visited, ul a:active {
   font: bold 11pt Arial; color: #9cf;
   text-decoration: none }
.showme a:link, .showme a:visited, .showme a:active {
   font: bold 11pt arial; background: navy; color: lime;
   text-decoration: none; padding: 3 }
.showme a:hover {
   background: maroon; color: yellow;
   text-transform: uppercase }

That declaration will apply the style to all links within an unordered list ( UL ) element, as well as to elements whose class attribute is set to showme.

A

hover, link, visited