::after CSS pseudo-element

Try it

a::after {
  content: " (" attr(href) ")";
}

.dead-link {
  text-decoration: line-through;
}

.dead-link::after {
  content: url("../../../../../../shared-assets/images/examples/warning.svg");
  display: inline-block;
  width: 12px;
  height: 12px;
}

<p>
  The sailfish is named for its sail-like dorsal fin and is widely considered
  the fastest fish in the ocean.
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailfish">You can read more about it here</a>.
</p>

<p>
  The red lionfish is a predatory scorpionfish that lives on coral reefs of the
  Indo-Pacific Ocean and more recently in the western Atlantic.
  <a href="" class="dead-link">You can read more about it here</a>.
</p>

Syntax

::after {
  content: /* value */;
  /* properties */
}

Description

The ::after pseudo-element is an inline box generated as an immediate child of the element it is associated with, or the "originating element". It is often used to add cosmetic content to an element via the content property, such as icons, quote marks, or other decoration.

::after pseudo-elements can't be applied to replaced elements such as <img>, whose contents are determined by external resources and not affected by the current document's styles.

An ::after pseudo-element with a display value of list-item behaves like a list item, and can therefore generate a ::marker pseudo-element just like an <li> element.

If the content property is not specified, has an invalid value, or has normal or none as a value, then the ::after pseudo-element is not rendered. It behaves as if display: none is set.

By default, the ::before and ::after pseudo-elements share the same stacking context as their parent. If no z-index is explicitly set, the ::after pseudo-element's generated content will appear above the ::before pseudo-element's generated content because ::after is rendered later in the DOM flow.

Accessibility

Using an ::after pseudo-element to add content is discouraged, as it is not reliably accessible to screen readers.

Examples

Basic usage

Let's create two classes: one for boring paragraphs and one for exciting ones. We can use these classes to add pseudo-elements to the end of paragraphs.

HTML

<p class="boring-text">Here is some plain old boring text.</p>
<p>Here is some normal text that is neither boring nor exciting.</p>
<p class="exciting-text">Contributing to MDN is fun.</p>

CSS

.exciting-text::after {
  content: " <- EXCITING!";
  color: darkgreen;
  font-weight: bolder;
}

.boring-text::after {
  content: " <- BORING";
  color: darkviolet;
  font-weight: bolder;
}

Result

Decorative example

We can style text or images in the content property almost any way we want.

HTML

<span class="ribbon">Look at the orange box after this text. </span>

CSS

.ribbon {
  background-color: #5bc8f7;
}

.ribbon::after {
  content: "This is a fancy orange box.";
  background-color: #ffba10;
  border-color: black;
  border-style: dotted;
}

Result

Tooltips

This example uses ::after, in conjunction with the attr() CSS expression and a data-description custom data attribute, to create tooltips. No JavaScript is required!

We can also support keyboard users with this technique, by adding a tabindex of 0 to make each span keyboard focusable, and using a CSS :focus selector. This shows how flexible ::before and ::after can be, though for the most accessible experience a semantic disclosure widget created in some other way (such as with details and summary elements) is likely to be more appropriate.

HTML

<p>
  Here we have some
  <span tabindex="0" data-description="collection of words and punctuation">
    text
  </span>
  with a few
  <span tabindex="0" data-description="small popups that appear when hovering">
    tooltips</span
  >.
</p>

CSS

span[data-description] {
  position: relative;
  text-decoration: underline;
  color: blue;
  cursor: help;
}

span[data-description]:hover::after,
span[data-description]:focus::after {
  content: attr(data-description);
  position: absolute;
  left: 0;
  top: 24px;
  min-width: 200px;
  border: 1px #aaaaaa solid;
  border-radius: 10px;
  background-color: #ffffcc;
  padding: 12px;
  color: black;
  font-size: 14px;
  z-index: 1;
}

Result

::after::marker nested pseudo-elements

The ::after::marker nested pseudo-element selects the list ::marker of an ::after pseudo-element that is itself a list item, that is, it has its display property set to list-item.

In this demo, we generate extra list items before and after a list navigation menu using ::before and ::after (setting them to display: list-item so they behave like list items). We then use ul::before::marker and ul::after::marker to give their list markers a different color.

HTML

<ul>
  <li><a href="#">Introduction</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Getting started</a></li>
  <li><a href="#">Understanding the basics</a></li>
</ul>

CSS

ul {
  font-size: 1.5rem;
  font-family: "Helvetica", "Arial", sans-serif;
}

ul::before,
ul::after {
  display: list-item;
  color: orange;
}

ul::before {
  content: "Start";
}

ul::after {
  content: "End";
}

ul::before::marker,
ul::after::marker {
  color: red;
}

Result

While the list bullets of the three navigation items are generated because they are <li> elements, "Start" and "End" have been inserted via pseudo-elements and ::marker is used to style their bullets.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• ::before
• content