A CSS pseudo-element is used to style specified parts of an element. In some cases you can style native HTML controls with vendor specific pseudo-elements. Here you will find an list of cross browser specific pseudo-element selectors.

Styling native elements

Native HTML controls are a challenge to style. You can style any element in the web platform that uses Shadow DOM with a pseudo element ::pseudo-element or the /deep/ path selector.

video::webkit-media-controls-timeline { background-color: lime; } video /deep/ input[type=range] { background-color: lime; }

Note

All Trident pseudo-elements listed here were added in IE10 and will not work in earlier versions of Internet Explorer. In WebKit, to style some pseudo-elements you must set the basis element’s -webkit-appearance pseudo-class to none.

<input type="search">

input[type=search]::-webkit-search-cancel-button input[type=search]::-webkit-search-cancel-button:after input[type=search]::-webkit-search-decoration input[type=search]::-webkit-search-results-decoration input[type=search]::-webkit-search-results-button input[type=search]::-webkit-textfield-decoration-container

<input type="file">

WebKit provides a hook for its file input button with the pseudo-element.

input[type=file]::-ms-browse input[type=file]::-webkit-file-upload-button input[type=file]:focus::-webkit-file-upload-button input[type=file]:active::-webkit-file-upload-button input[type=file]:active:disabled::-webkit-file-upload-button input[type=file] > input[type=button]::-moz-focus-inner

<input type="range">

WebKit provides a pseudo-element for the track and for the range handle itself. As of Firefox 22, Gecko provides pseudo-elements for styling range inputs. Trident provides a bunch of pseudo-elements to customize its range selector.

input[type=range]::-webkit-slider-container input[type=range]::-webkit-media-slider-container input[type=range]::-webkit-slider-runnable-track input[type=range]:focus::-webkit-slider-runnable-track input[type=range]::-webkit-slider-thumb input[type=range]::-webkit-slider-thumb:before input[type=range]::-webkit-slider-thumb:after input[type=range]:active::-webkit-slider-thumb input[type=range]:hover::-webkit-slider-thumb:before input[type=range]:hover::-webkit-slider-thumb:after input[type=range]:focus::-webkit-slider-thumb:before input[type=range]:focus::-webkit-slider-thumb:after input[type=range]:disabled::-webkit-slider-thumb:before input[type=range]:disabled::-webkit-slider-thumb:after input[type=range]::-webkit-media-slider-thumb input[type=range]:disabled::-webkit-slider-thumb input[type=range]:hover::-webkit-slider-thumb input[type=range]:focus::-webkit-slider-thumb input[type=range]::-webkit-color-swatch-wrapper input[type=range]::-webkit-color-swatch input[type=range]::-moz-range-track input[type=range][orient=vertical]::-moz-range-track input[type=range]:focus::-moz-range-track input[type=range]::-moz-range-progress input[type=range]::-moz-range-thumb input[type=range]:focus::-moz-range-thumb input[type=range]:focus::-moz-range-thumb:before input[type=range]:focus::-moz-range-thumb:after input[type=range]::-moz-focus-outer input[type=range]::-ms-fill-lower input[type=range]::-ms-fill-upper input[type=range]::-ms-ticks-before input[type=range]::-ms-ticks-after input[type=range]::-ms-thumb input[type=range]::-ms-thumb:hover input[type=range]::-ms-track input[type=range]:focus::-ms-track input[type=range]::ms-tooltip

<input type="time">

Applies one or more styles to the clear button of a text input control. The clear button is shown only when the text input control has focus and is not empty.

input[type=time]::-ms-clear input[type=time]::-webkit-clear-button

<input type="date">

The following pseudo-elements are made available by WebKit for customizing a date input’s textbox.

input[type=date]::-webkit-datetime-edit input[type=date]::-webkit-datetime-edit-fields-wrapper input[type=date]::-webkit-datetime-edit-text input[type=date]::-webkit-datetime-edit-month-field input[type=date]::-webkit-datetime-edit-day-field input[type=date]::-webkit-datetime-edit-year-field input[type=date]::-webkit-inner-spin-button input[type=date]::-webkit-calendar-picker-indicator input[type=date]::-webkit-clear-button

<input type="color">

Webkit provides two pseudo elements for its color picker.

input[type=color]::-webkit-color-swatch input[type=color]::-webkit-color-swatch-wrapper input[type=color]::-moz-color-swatch input[type=color]::-moz-focus-inner

<input type="number">

WebKit provides a spinner control by default for number picker inputs. While you cannot do a whole lot with these elements, it can be useful to hide the spinner.

input[type=number]::-webkit-textfield-decoration-container input[type=number]::-webkit-textfield-decoration-container:before input[type=number]::-webkit-textfield-decoration-container:after input[type=number]::-webkit-inner-spin-button input[type=number]::-webkit-outer-spin-button input[type=number]::-moz-number-wrapper input[type=number]::-moz-number-text input[type=number]::-moz-number-spin-box input[type=number]::-moz-number-spin-up input[type=number]::-moz-number-spin-down

<input type="checkbox">

Trident provides a pseudo-element for checkbox button control.

input[type=checkbox]::-ms-check

<input type="radio">

Trident provides a pseudo-element for the radio button control.

input[type=radio]::-ms-check

<input type="text">

As of IE10 Trident provides the pseudo-element ::-ms-value to style the value portion of text inputs. Further more in IE10 when a text input has focus and is not empty, a small (x) control appears in the right hand side of the input. When clicked, the control will clear the contents of the text input.

input[type=text]::-ms-value input[type=text]::-ms-clear

<input type="password">

Trident provides a control on password inputs that can be pressed to display the password in plain text. And as of IE10 Trident provides the pseudo-element ::-ms-value to style the value portion of text inputs.

input[type=password]::-ms-reveal input[type=password]::-ms-value

<input type="reset">

input[type=reset]::-moz-focus-inner

<input type="submit">

input[type=submit]::-moz-focus-inner

<input type="button">

input[type=button]::-moz-focus-inner

placeholder Attribute

WebKit and Gecko provide a placeholder pseudo-element. Note: Gecko switched from the pseudo-class :-moz-placeholder to the pseudo-element ::-moz-placeholder in Firefox 19.

::-moz-placeholder :-ms-input-placeholder ::-webkit-input-placeholder

<keygen>

WebKit provides a pseudo-element that can be used to customize the dropdown that a keygen element uses.

::-webkit-keygen-select

<input>

Gecko and Webkit applies following pseudo-elements to there inputs.

input:valid + label::after input:invalid + label::after input::-webkit-input-list-button input::-webkit-input-speech-button input::-webkit-textfield-decoration-container input::-webkit-calendar-picker-indicator input::-moz-placeholder input::-moz-focus-inner input::-ms-clear

<button>

button::-moz-focus-inner

<select>

As of IE10 Trident gives you a hook to style the arrow within select dropdowns.

select::-ms-expand

<details>

details::-webkit-details-marker

<summary>

summary::-webkit-details-marker

<meter>

WebKit provides pseudo-elements to customize the display of meter elements.

meter::-webkit-meter meter::-webkit-meter-horizontal-bar meter::-webkit-meter-vertical-bar meter::-webkit-meter-horizontal-optimum-value meter::-webkit-meter-horizontal-suboptimal-value meter::-webkit-meter-horizontal-even-less-good-value meter::-webkit-meter-vertical-optimum-value meter::-webkit-meter-vertical-suboptimal-value meter::-webkit-meter-vertical-even-less-good-value meter::-moz-meter-bar meter:-moz-meter-optimum::-moz-meter-bar meter:-moz-meter-sub-optimum::-moz-meter-bar meter:-moz-meter-sub-sub-optimum::-moz-meter-bar

On Mac OS X, WebKit provides multiple built-in appearances for <meter>.

 /* Default */ -webkit-appearance: continuous-capacity-level-indicator; -webkit-appearance: discrete-capacity-level-indicator; -webkit-appearance: relevancy-level-indicator; -webkit-appearance: rating-level-indicator;

<progress>

WebKit provides pseudo-elements to style progress elements. And Gecko provides a pseudo-element to style the progress bar itself. Like Gecko, Trident provides a single pseudo-element to style the progress bar.

progress::-webkit-progress-bar progress::-webkit-progress-value progress::-webkit-progress-bar-value progress::-moz-progress-bar progress::-ms-fill

<textarea>

This pseudo-element also allows some basic styling for the textarea resizer.

textarea::-webkit-resizer textarea::-webkit-resizer:window-inactive textarea::-webkit-input-placeholder textarea::-moz-placeholder

Note: Adding display: none to ::-webkit-resizer doesn't actually prevent the user from resizing the textarea, it just hides the control. If you want to disable resizing in textarea use this.

textarea { resize: none; }

<img>

img::-webkit-image-inner-element

<p>

p::after p::before p::first-letter p::first-line p::selection

<video>

video::-webkit-media-controls-panel video::-webkit-media-controls-play-button video::-webkit-media-controls-volume-slider-container video::-webkit-media-controls-volume-slider video::-webkit-media-controls-mute-button video::-webkit-media-controls-timeline video::-webkit-media-controls-current-time-display video::-webkit-full-page-media::-webkit-media-controls-panel video::-webkit-media-controls-timeline-container video::-webkit-media-controls-time-remaining-display video::-webkit-media-controls-seek-back-button video::-webkit-media-controls-seek-forward-button video::-webkit-media-controls-fullscreen-button video::-webkit-media-controls-overlay-play-button video::-webkit-media-controls-rewind-button video::-webkit-media-controls-return-to-realtime-button video::-webkit-media-controls-toggle-closed-captions-button

<audio>

audio::-webkit-media-controls-panel audio::-webkit-media-controls-mute-button audio::-webkit-media-controls-play-button audio::-webkit-media-controls-timeline-container audio::-webkit-media-controls-current-time-display audio::-webkit-media-controls-time-remaining-display audio::-webkit-media-controls-timeline audio::-webkit-media-controls-volume-slider-container audio::-webkit-media-controls-volume-slider audio::-webkit-media-controls-seek-back-button audio::-webkit-media-controls-seek-forward-button audio::-webkit-media-controls-fullscreen-button audio::-webkit-media-controls-rewind-button audio::-webkit-media-controls-return-to-realtime-button audio::-webkit-media-controls-toggle-closed-captions-button

Scrollbar

Custom Scrollbars in WebKit.

::-webkit-scrollbar ::-webkit-scrollbar-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:disabled ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:horizontal:end:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:horizontal:end:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:horizontal:end:increment:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:horizontal:start:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:horizontal:start:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:vertical:end:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:vertical:end:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:vertical:end:increment:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:vertical:start:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:double-button:vertical:start:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:end ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:end:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:end:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:decrement:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:decrement:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:decrement:window-inactive ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:end ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:end:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:end:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:end:increment:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:increment:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:increment:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:increment:window-inactive ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:start ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:start:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:horizontal:start:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:start ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:start:decrement` ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:start:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:decrement:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:decrement:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:decrement:window-inactive ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:end ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:end:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:end:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:end:increment:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:increment:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:increment:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:increment:window-inactive ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:start ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:start:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-button:vertical:start:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-corner ::-webkit-scrollbar-corner:window-inactive ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:horizontal ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:horizontal:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:horizontal:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:horizontal:window-inactive ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:vertical ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:vertical:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:vertical:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:vertical:window-inactive ::-webkit-scrollbar-track ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:disabled ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:end ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:decrement:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:decrement:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:end ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:end:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:end:double-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:end:no-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:end:no-button:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:end:single-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:increment:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:increment:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:start ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:start:double-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:start:no-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:horizontal:start:single-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:start ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:decrement ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:decrement:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:decrement:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:end ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:end:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:end:double-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:end:no-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:end:no-button:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:end:single-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:increment ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:increment:active ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:increment:hover ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:start ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:start:double-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:start:no-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track-piece:vertical:start:single-button ::-webkit-scrollbar-track:disabled ::-webkit-scrollbar-track:horizontal ::-webkit-scrollbar-track:horizontal:disabled ::-webkit-scrollbar-track:horizontal:disabled:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar-track:vertical:disabled ::-webkit-scrollbar-track:vertical:disabled:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar:horizontal ::-webkit-scrollbar:horizontal:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar:horizontal:window-inactive ::-webkit-scrollbar:vertical ::-webkit-scrollbar:vertical:corner-present ::-webkit-scrollbar:vertical:window-inactive ::-webkit-textfield-decoration-container

Form validation message-bubbe

Note: Chrome 28 removed support for these pseudo-elements

::-webkit-validation-bubble ::-webkit-validation-bubble-arrow ::-webkit-validation-bubble-arrow-clipper ::-webkit-validation-bubble-heading ::-webkit-validation-bubble-message ::-webkit-validation-bubble-text-block

alwayrun/pseudo-elements.md