Sets the style of an element when it gains focus.

Syntax

HTML	:focus { sRules }
Scripting	N/A

Possible Values

sRules

String that specifies one or more Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) attribute/value pairs.

Remarks

In an HTML document, an element must receive focus from the user in order to become active and perform its tasks. For example, users must set input focus on a link in order to follow it. Similarly, users must give a TEXTAREA focus in order to enter text into it.

There are several ways to give focus to an element:

• Designate the element with a pointing device. Even elements that do not typically accept input, such as div and body elements, receive focus when clicked with the mouse.
• Navigate through the document with the TAB and Shift+TAB keys. The document's author may define a tabbing order that specifies the order in which elements will receive focus.
• Select an element through a keyboard shortcut.

This pseudo-class requires that Internet Explorer be in IE8 mode rendering. For more information, see Defining Document Compatibility.

Example

The following style rule will change the background color of any element that receives input focus:

*:focus {
    background-color: #ffc;
} 

Standards Information

This pseudo-class is defined in CSS, Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS2.1) .

Applies To

A, BODY, BUTTON, DIV, IMG, INPUT type=button, INPUT type=file, INPUT type=image, INPUT type=password, INPUT type=reset, INPUT type=submit, INPUT type=text, SPAN, TABLE, TD, TEXTAREA