:visited

The :visited CSS pseudo-class represents links that the user has already visited. For privacy reasons, the styles that can be modified using this selector are very limited.

/* Selects any <a> that has been visited */
a:visited {
  color: green;
}

Styles defined by the :visited pseudo-class will be overridden by any subsequent link-related pseudo-class (:link, :hover, or :active) that has at least equal specificity. To style links appropriately, put the :visited rule after the :link rule but before the :hover and :active rules, as defined by the LVHA-order: :link — :visited — :hover — :active.

Privacy restrictions

For privacy reasons, browsers strictly limit which styles you can apply using this pseudo-class, and how they can be used:

• Allowable CSS properties are color, background-color, border-color, border-bottom-color, border-left-color, border-right-color, border-top-color, column-rule-color, outline-color, text-decoration-color, and text-emphasis-color.
• Allowable SVG attributes are fill and stroke.
• The alpha component of the allowed styles will be ignored. The alpha component of the element's non-:visited state will be used instead, except when that component is 0, in which case the style set in :visited will be ignored entirely.
• Although these styles can change the appearance of colors to the end user, the window.getComputedStyle method will lie and always return the value of the non-:visited color.
• The <link> element is never matched by :visited.

Syntax

:visited

Examples

Properties that would otherwise have no color or be transparent cannot be modified with :visited. Of the properties that can be set with this pseudo-class, your browser probably has a default value for color and column-rule-color only. Thus, if you want to modify the other properties, you'll need to give them a base value outside the :visited selector.

HTML

<a href="#test-visited-link">Have you visited this link yet?</a><br>
<a href="">You've already visited this link.</a>

CSS

a {
  /* Specify non-transparent defaults to certain properties,
     allowing them to be styled with the :visited state */
  background-color: white;
  border: 1px solid white;
}

a:visited {
  background-color: yellow;
  border-color: hotpink;
  color: hotpink;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Privacy and the :visited selector
• Link-related pseudo-classes: :link, :active, :hover