CSS Resources > 2. Selectors
Recommended Resources
LinkedIn Learning Videos
Type and universal selectors | 3:20 |
Class and id selectors | 3:05 |
Class and id selector exercise | 3:28 |
Descendant selectors | 3:48 |
Grouping selectore | 1:38 |
W3Schools Reference
Overview
Selector | Example | Example description |
.class | .intro | Selects all elements with class=”intro” |
#id | #firstname | Selects the element with id=”firstname” |
* | * | Selects all elements |
element | p | Selects all <p> elements |
element, element | div, p | Selects all <div> elements and all <p> elements |
element element | div p | Selects all <p> elements inside <div> elements |
element > element | div > p | Selects all <p> elements where the parent is a <div> element |
element + element | div + p | Selects all <p> elements that are placed immediately after <div> elements |
element~element | p ~ ul | Selects every <ul> element that is preceded by a <p> element |
There is an excellent selector tester available on the W3Schools website that does a deeper dive into some of the more complex selectors.
Basic Selector Examples
Element Selector
Selects elements based on the element name
Example: h1 { color: red; }
ID Selector
Uses the id attribute of an HTML element to select a specific element, using the hash character (#):
Example: #my_tag { color: red; }
Class Selector
Selects elements with a specific class attribute. To select elements with a specific class, write a period (.) character, followed by the name of the class.
Example: .heading { color: red; }
Grouping Selectors
When you want to apply the same rule to many selectors, separate them with a comma:
Example: h1, h2, h3 { color: red; }