Before Pseudo Element Techniques for Modern Web Design

Before pseudo element techniques for modern web design, it's essential to understand the basics of CSS selectors and how they work.

CSS selectors are used to target specific HTML elements, and pseudo elements are a type of CSS selector that allows you to style specific parts of an element.

Pseudo elements are created using the colon (:) symbol, and they can be used to add visual effects to an element without adding extra HTML markup.

By using pseudo elements, you can create complex and visually appealing designs without cluttering your HTML code.

Styling broken images can be a challenge, but it's a great opportunity to get creative with CSS. You can show a custom placeholder instead of the broken image icon and alt text.

The key is to use the ::before pseudo-element on the image element. This works in Chrome and Firefox, but not in Safari, where the styling is applied to the alt text instead.

To create the region of the broken image effect, style the image's ::before pseudo-element with a light gray background and slightly darker border. This will give you a good starting point for your custom placeholder.

You can refine the style by rounding the corners and giving the alt text some breathing room. To do this, set the content property to an empty string and use absolute positioning to control the placement of the pseudo-element.

However, be careful not to cover the actual alt text. If you do, it will disappear from view, even though it's still there. To fix this, use the ::after pseudo-element to display the alt text in a different way.

In Chrome, you can use the attr() function to display the image's alt attribute text. But in Firefox, you'll need to target the alt attribute directly using an attribute selector. This will ensure that the styles match up in both browsers.

Custom UI elements can be created with the ::before pseudo-element, allowing for visually interesting and customized styles.

Blockquotes can be styled with ::before and ::after pseudo-elements, incorporating generated content like quotation marks. The HTML element needs to have a position of relative to position the blockquotes.

Radio buttons can be customized by targeting the ::before pseudo-element, changing its background color when checked, and using ::after to change the color of the circular ring.

Creating custom bullet lists with icons can be a fun way to add some personality to your UI. You can use the ::before pseudo-element to override the default styling of ordered and unordered lists, and even add emojis to the content property.

Eric Meyer shows us a better way to style list markers using the ::marker pseudo-element. It's probably a better way to go in the long run, but it's worth noting that you can still use ::before for more creative freedom.

Using emojis in list markers can add a touch of whimsy to your design. The ::before pseudo-element makes it easy to add custom icons to your lists, and you can get creative with the content property.

Custom bullet lists can be a great way to break up content and make it more visually appealing. With the right styling, you can create lists that are both functional and visually interesting.

Custom Radio Buttons are a great way to add some personality to your forms. Most of us try to customize the default styles of HTML radio buttons, and that's usually accomplished with ::before and ::after.

To remove the default styling of the radio buttons, we use appearance: none;. This sets the stage for our custom styling.

We can use ::before to add a visually interesting element to the radio button, and change its background color when it's checked.

The form label is still unusable, so we need to target the form label directly to add color. When the form input is checked, we change that color to something that's visible.

The position: absolute on ::before and ::after is covering things up when the radio buttons are checked. To fix this, we apply z-index: 1 (or position: absolute) to the form label.

We can use pseudo elements to create a gradient border on an image by creating a gradient over the image and using the CSS z-index property with a negative value.

This technique allows the image to always appear on top as long as the gradient has a negative z-index, which is a clever way to make the image stand out in a design.

By using ::before, we can achieve a seamless design by pulling the gradient below the image in the stacking order.

We can use a gradient on a border to make images stand out or fit more seamlessly within a design. Did you know we can use ::before to create a gradient over an image?

The core idea is to create a gradient over the image and use the CSS z-index property with a negative value. This pulls the gradient below the image in the stacking order.

As long as the gradient has a negative z-index, the image always appears on top.

Pseudo-elements can be written with either one or two colons.

The single colon syntax was initially used, but the W3C changed it to a double colon syntax to distinguish pseudo-elements from pseudo-classes.

The single colon syntax is still acceptable for backward compatibility, but it's not allowed for new pseudo-elements.

Pseudo-classes are preceded by a single colon, not two.

Here's a key difference between pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements:

After a pseudo element is added to an HTML element, it can be styled just like any other element. Its appearance can be customized using CSS properties such as color, background, and font.

You can use the :before and :after pseudo elements to add content to an element, like adding a quote mark before or after a block of text.

By setting the content property to a value like a quote mark, you can add a specific character to the pseudo element. This allows you to add a wide range of content, from simple characters to more complex strings of text.