What is the reason behind both paragraphs being displayed in a shade of blue in this snippet of code

Question

What is the reason behind both paragraphs being displayed in a shade of blue in this snippet of code

.red p {
  color: red;
}

.blue p {
  color: blue;
}

<div class="blue">
  <p> first </p>
  <div class="red">
    <p> second </p>
  </div>
</div>

Initially, I expected the first paragraph to be blue and the second one to be red. However, both paragraphs appear in blue color. Why is this happening?

html css

Answer 1

Answer №1

The reason both paragraphs appear blue is because of the "C" in CSS, which stands for cascading. For more information on how CSS rules are applied and inherited, you can refer to the MDN documentation.

In this scenario, all <p> elements are styled as blue due to the .blue p selector taking precedence over the .red p selector.

To make sure that the <p> elements within the .red div are displayed in red, you can adjust your CSS like this:

.blue p {
  color: blue;
}

.blue .red p {
  color: red;
}

Answer 2

The reason both paragraphs appear blue is because of the "C" in CSS, which stands for cascading. For more information on how CSS rules are applied and inherited, you can refer to the MDN documentation.

In this scenario, all <p> elements are styled as blue due to the .blue p selector taking precedence over the .red p selector.

To make sure that the <p> elements within the .red div are displayed in red, you can adjust your CSS like this:

.blue p {
  color: blue;
}

.blue .red p {
  color: red;
}

Answer 3

Answer №2

As you are probably aware:

.blue p will select any p tags within a .blue class.
.red p will select any p tags within a .red class.

Your <p> first </p> is inside a blue class, so it matches the .blue p rule and displays as blue.

<div class="red"> is within both a red and a blue class, causing a conflict. CSS resolves this by using the last rule encountered, which in this case is the .blue p rule, resulting in the text being displayed in blue.

CSS solution

If p tags will always be direct children of your color classes, you can use the following solution. The > indicates a descendant selector that only targets immediate descendants.

.red > p {
  color: red;
}

.blue > p {
  color: blue;
}

Alternate CSS fix

You may also follow the suggestion from Tom. This method works because more specific CSS rules take precedence over less specific ones. Even though the blue rule comes later, the div .red p has two classes and is therefore more specific than .blue p.

.red p,
.blue .red p {
  color: red;
}

.blue p,
.red .blue p {
  color: blue;
}

However, this just shifts the issue one level deeper. The red class in the given HTML snippet will still appear blue.

<div class="blue">
  <div class="blue">
    <p> first </p>

    <div class="red">
      <p> second </p>
    </div>

  </div>
</div>

HTML adjustment

This simpler approach involves moving your classes to the p tags:

<div>
  <p class="blue"> first </p>
  <div>
    <p class="red"> second </p>
  </div>
</div>

Other considerations

There are various ways in which CSS rules can be overridden. It would be beneficial for you to explore CSS specificity.

Answer 4

As you are probably aware:

.blue p will select any p tags within a .blue class.
.red p will select any p tags within a .red class.

Your <p> first </p> is inside a blue class, so it matches the .blue p rule and displays as blue.

<div class="red"> is within both a red and a blue class, causing a conflict. CSS resolves this by using the last rule encountered, which in this case is the .blue p rule, resulting in the text being displayed in blue.

CSS solution

If p tags will always be direct children of your color classes, you can use the following solution. The > indicates a descendant selector that only targets immediate descendants.

.red > p {
  color: red;
}

.blue > p {
  color: blue;
}

Alternate CSS fix

You may also follow the suggestion from Tom. This method works because more specific CSS rules take precedence over less specific ones. Even though the blue rule comes later, the div .red p has two classes and is therefore more specific than .blue p.

.red p,
.blue .red p {
  color: red;
}

.blue p,
.red .blue p {
  color: blue;
}

However, this just shifts the issue one level deeper. The red class in the given HTML snippet will still appear blue.

<div class="blue">
  <div class="blue">
    <p> first </p>

    <div class="red">
      <p> second </p>
    </div>

  </div>
</div>

HTML adjustment

This simpler approach involves moving your classes to the p tags:

<div>
  <p class="blue"> first </p>
  <div>
    <p class="red"> second </p>
  </div>
</div>

Other considerations

There are various ways in which CSS rules can be overridden. It would be beneficial for you to explore CSS specificity.

Answer 5

Answer №3

Since the parent div has been styled with a blue color, your structure should look like this:

<div class="blue">
 <p>first</p>
</div>
<div class="red">
 <p>second</p>
</div>

The corresponding CSS code would be:

.red {
  color: red;
}

.blue {
  color: blue;
}

Answer 6

Since the parent div has been styled with a blue color, your structure should look like this:

<div class="blue">
 <p>first</p>
</div>
<div class="red">
 <p>second</p>
</div>

The corresponding CSS code would be:

.red {
  color: red;
}

.blue {
  color: blue;
}

What is the reason behind both paragraphs being displayed in a shade of blue in this snippet of code

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

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