CSS Syntax and Property Reference - HTML and CSS: The Complete Reference - page 538

Selector Description Example Defined In

:nth-of-type( n ) Selects the element
that is the nth child of
its parent that is its
type

CSS3

strong:nth-of-type(5) {text-
decoration: underline;}
/* underlines the fifth strong tag
under a parent */

:only-child Selects an element if

it's the only child of its
parent

h1:only-child {color: blue;}
/* sets the h1 color to blue if
the h1 is the only child of its
parent */

CSS3

Selects an element if
it's the only child of its
parent with its type

:only-of-type p:only-of-type {font-weight: bold;}

/*sets the p element to be bold if
it is the only p tag child of its
parent */

CSS3

:root Selects the element

that is the root of the
document

:root {background-color: blue;}
/* sets the background color to
blue for the root element */

CSS3

::selection Selects the part of

the element that is
currently selected;
supported in Firefox as
::-moz-selection
as well

#test::selection {color: red;}
/* makes the text red when
selected */

CSS3

:target Selects the element

that is the target of a
referring URI

:target{color:red;}
/* if the element is the target of
the referring URI, the color is
set to red */

CSS3

T ABLE 5-5 CSS Selectors (continued)

N OTE Most of the CSS3 selectors are not supported in Internet Explorer browsers, including
version 8.0, though they are widely supported by other browser vendors.

Page Media Selectors
CSS2 and beyond provide special support for multiple media types. Print styles in
particular introduce interesting selectors that are specific for page media. Table 5-6
summarizes the selectors used for such media-dependent styles.

N OTE CSS properties like orphans , page-break-after , page-break-before ,
page-break-inside , and widows are often used in conjunction with these selectors.
See the corresponding section in this chapter for the particular property for more information.