:focus

Last updated on: March 20, 2013

The :focus pseudo class in CSS is used for styling an element that is currently targeted by the keyboard, or activated by the mouse. Here is an example:

textarea:focus {
    background: pink;
}

And here's what that code looks like in action:

Click inside me (or tab to me)

Any element (most commonly <input>s and <textarea>s) are in "focus" when they are selected and ready to enter text (like when a cursor is blinking.

"Tabbing"

Another use of the :focus pseudo class is "tabbing" through elements. Many browsers have a default focus state for tab selection, which is a dotted outline. It is quite easy to remove, but make sure to replace it with a suitable alternative if you do.

<a>s, <button>s, <input>s, and textareas all have the :focus state by default, but you can give a focus state to any element in HTML5. Both the contenteditable and tabindex attributes work for this, as in this example:

Check out this Pen!

Other Resources

• CSS2 Spec
• Selectors level 3
• Selectors level 4
• MDN
• Removing the Dotted Outline on CSS-Tricks
• More about contenteditable
• More about TabIndex

Browser Support