::after (:after)

Summary

The CSS ::after pseudo-element matches a virtual last child of the selected element. Typically used to add cosmetic content to an element, by using the content CSS property. This element is inline by default.

Syntax

element:after  { style properties }  /* CSS2 syntax */

element::after { style properties }  /* CSS3 syntax */

The ::after notation was introduced in CSS 3 in order to establish a discrimination between pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements. Browsers also accept the notation :after introduced in CSS 2.

Examples

Simple usage

Let's create two classes, one for boring paragraphs and one for exciting ones. We can then mark each paragraph by adding a pseudo-element to the end of it.

<p class="boring-text">Here is some good old boring text.</p>
<p>Here is some moderate text that is not either boring or exciting.</p>
<p class="exciting-text">Contributing to MDN is easy and fun.
Just hit the edit button to add new live samples, or improve existing samples.</p>

.exciting-text::after {
   content:    "<- now this *is* exciting!"; 
   color:      green;
}

.boring-text::after {
   content:    "<- BORING!";
   color:      red;
}

Output

Decorative example

We can style text or images in the content property almost any way we want.

<span class="ribbon">Notice where the orange box is.</span>

.ribbon {
   background-color: #5BC8F7;
}

.ribbon::after {
   content:          "Look at this orange box.";
   background-color: #FFBA10;
   border-color:     black;
   border-style:     dotted;
}

Output

Tooltips

The following example shows the use of the ::after pseudo-element in conjunction with the attr() CSS expression and a data-descr custom data attribute to create a pure-CSS, glossary-like tooltip. Checkout the live preview below, or you can see this example in a separate page.

<p>Here is the live example of the above code.<br />
  We have some <span data-descr="collection of words and punctuation">text</span> here with a few
  <span data-descr="small popups which also hide again">tooltips</span>.<br />
  Dont be shy, hove over to take a <span data-descr="not to be taken literally">look</span>.
</p>

    span[data-descr] {
        position: relative;
        text-decoration: underline;
        color: #00F;
        cursor: help;
    }

    span[data-descr]:hover::after {
        content: attr(data-descr);
        position: absolute;
        left: 0;
        top: 24px;
        min-width: 200px;
        border: 1px #aaaaaa solid;
        border-radius: 10px;
        background-color: #ffffcc;
        padding: 12px;
        color: #000000;
        font-size: 14px;
        z-index: 1;
    }

Output

Specifications

Browser compatibility

[1] Firefox prior to version 3.5 only implemented the CSS 2.0 version of :after. Not allowed were position, float, list-style-* and some display properties. Firefox 3.5 removed those restrictions.

See Also

• ::before, content