What is the css / html `root` element?

There is no element called root in HTML. The html element itself is "the root element" (which is the term given to the element which is the ancestor of all the other elements in the document), but this would be matched by html { }.

However, see the :root pseudo-class (with a colon).


From here: http://www.quirksmode.org/css/root.html

The :root pseudo-element selects the root of all blocks in the page, ie. the Initial Containing Block. In HTML this is obviously the <html> element

Test stylesheet:

 :root {    
     background-color: #6374AB;
    padding: 50px; 
 }

If the :root selector works the left and right column of the page are blue, and the white middle column is offset by 50 pixels.

Tags:

Html

Css

Netbeans

Recent Posts