>
signifies the child selector. It's important to understand the distinction between a descendant and a child in CSS. The selector .a .b
targets any element with a class of b that is a descendant of an element with a class of a, whereas the selector .a>.b
specifically selects elements with a class of b which are children of an element with a class of a. While all children are descendants, only direct descendants are considered children.
Therefore:
#container
will match an element with the id of container
#container>section
will target section elements that are direct children (first-generation descendants) of #container
#container>section>div
will select div elements that are children of div elements that are children of #container
#container>section>div:nth-child(2)
will identify div elements that are the second child of div elements that are children of sections which are children of #container
#container>section>div:nth-child(2)>span:nth-child(1)
will find span elements that are the first child of div elements that are the second child of sections that are children of #container
#container>section>div:nth-child(2)>span:nth-child(1)>a
will target anchor elements that are children of div elements that are the first child of div elements that are the second child of sections that are children of #container
This can get quite complex in CSS. It's often easier to assign an id or class to the a
element and then utilize simpler selectors in your styles:
<a id="link1" class="btn-link">
<style>
#link1 { ... add your styling here ... }
.btn-link { ... more styles go here ...}
</style>