7. Core Selectors: Type Selectors (Element Selectors)
Type Selectors (or Element Selectors) are the most fundamental selectors. They target all instances of a specific HTML element type.
How Type Selectors Work
To select all paragraphs, you use p. To select all links, you use a. The selector name is simply the name of the HTML tag without the angle brackets (<>).
html
Main Title
First paragraph.
Second paragraph, also styled.
CSS Examples
Targeting the <h1> element:
css h1 { color: #333; /* Dark gray */ border-bottom: 2px solid #ccc; }
Targeting all <p> elements:
css p { font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 15px; }
Targeting the <body> element (often used for global styles):
css body { background-color: ghostwhite; }
Advantages
- Simplicity: Easy to write and understand.
- Global Reach: Perfect for setting default styles for generic content elements (like how all
ptags should look).
Caution: If you want different paragraphs on the same page to look different, the Type Selector is too broad. This is where Class and ID selectors come in.