Applying CSS styles exclusively to a div element and not its before pseudo-class

So I'm working on an HTML page with a div that looks like this:

<div class="get-this"> blah blah </div>

I've added a before pseudo-element to the div and now I want to apply a CSS style specifically to the div, not including the pseudo element.

.get-this:not(::before) {
  padding-top:2px;
}

Right now, the style is being applied to the entire div. Is there a way to limit the styling only to the div itself, and exclude the pseudo element?

Answer №1

Utilizing the cascade in a simple way.

The CSS cascade allows for the application of broad styles to general selectors and more specific styles to specific selectors.

For example:

.get-this {
  padding-top:2px;
}

.get-this::before {
  padding-top:0;
}

Example in Action:

.paragraph-one {
color: red;
}

.paragraph-two {
color: blue;
}

.paragraph-one::before {
content: 'Paragraph One: ';
}

.paragraph-two::before {
content: 'Paragraph Two: ';
color: green;
}
<p class="paragraph-one">This is paragraph one. It is red.</p>
<p class="paragraph-two">This is paragraph two. It is blue.</p>
<p>The <code>::before</code> pseudo-element preceding Paragraph Two <em>isn't the same color</em> as the rest of Paragraph Two, because, further down the cascade, an overriding style has been declared for the more specific <code>.paragraph-two::before</code> selector.</p>

Answer №2

When all your div elements already have CSS applied before or after, you need to add content: ""; in order for the styles to show up on DOM:before or DOM:after.

If you set content to none, it won't display anything. To override the div styles, you can simply do:

.get-this:before {
    content: none;
}

However, it's advisable not to apply before or after properties to every div element in your application. Div elements are commonly used in many situations, so encountering issues like the one you're facing now with every div element and having to write CSS to overwrite it is generally not a good practice.

Furthermore, if the position of your DOM element with before or after is related to its parent DOM, any changes in padding, margin, positioning, or size of the DOM will also affect the before or after of that DOM.

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