How to select the first child element with CSS

Jul 23, 2022

Learn how to select the first child element in CSS without adding a class, using the first-of-type selector to target the first ul inside a container.

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Problem: in my markdown file I had the need to style the first ul, the table of contents, and I couldn’t add a class or an id to target it with CSS.

So I looked into how to target it with a selector.

The HTML structure was this:

<div id="content">
  <ul>
    ...the TOC
  </ul>

  ...rest of the HTML
</div>

This worked to select the first child of div#content and leave other ul elements unaffected:

div#content > ul:first-of-type {
  ...my styles
}

Tagged: CSS · All topics

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