Help:Cascading style sheets
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This is a copy of the master help page at Meta. Do not edit this copy.Edits will be lost in the next update from the master page. See below for more information.
Cascading Style Sheets allow for flexible formatting of a page. They should be used instead of tables whenever possible, because they can be manipulated by the reader or overridden by an author if your css is embedded in another page via a template.
Contents
Levels of CSS settings
Style may be specified specifically for a piece of content, see e.g. color; scope of parameters
Alternatively, style is specified for CSS selectors, expressed in terms of elements, classes and id's. This is done on various levels:
Author stylesheets, in this order:
User stylesheet:
A HTML element may be just taken from the wikitext (see HTML in wikitext), e.g. span, or the result of translating wikitext, e.g. the ''' code is changed into <b>, or part of the code for the skin.
A class may be produced by the software, e.g. ns-namespace number for the HTML-element "body", and extiw for an interwiki link in the page body, or taken from the wikitext.
Similarly an id may be produced by the software, e.g. bodyContent, or taken from the wikitext.
In the case of conflicting style settings for a piece of content, the resulting setting depends primarily on the indication "!important". Secondarily, if both are important, the user wins, if neither is, the author wins. Tertiarily it depends on specificity. Only lastly it depends on order between and within stylesheets: the last wins. Thus a User:username/monobook.css does not win from MediaWiki:Monobook.css (both author, not user) if the specificity of the latter is greater. See also cascade.
Supported Elements
Mediawiki supports most CSS, with such exceptions as the url() attribute. There were some bugs in css support in earlier versions.
- Further information: the CSS specification.
CSS in wikitext
You can use CSS styling in HTML elements in your code (see Help:HTML in wikitext for a list of elements supported by MediaWiki) like you would in normal HTML　markup.
For example, a "div" element with a green border and its contents floated to the right would be created with
<div style="float:right; border:thin solid green;"> Here comes a short paragraph that is<br /> contained in a "div" element that is<br /> floated to the right.</div>
Here comes a short paragraph that is
contained in a "div" element that is
which would produce the box to the right.
Some wikitext elements allow you to insert CSS styling directly into them. An example is the table syntax:
{| style="your style here"
|-
|your table stuff
|-
|}
- Further information: Help:Tables
Mediawiki existing styles
You may wish to use a style type that is already predefined by mediawiki, or the site that you are visiting. You can also create a style that is unique to your page.
monobook is the default style, you can read it at:
You will give your css tag an existing "class"
Please put a list of existing classes here.
Tips and tricks
Non-display
In an embedded page, one can hide comments in one version, and show them in another view. One extreme "style" for a text is not displaying it, with
.classname {display: none}
#id {display: none}
etc.
Non-displayed links do not work (as opposed to links in a very small font).
It cannot be used to remove text in expressions for template names, parameter names, parameter values, page names in links, etc.
To view hidden text, download the Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox here, then choose Misc. -> show hidden elements in that toolbar. It will make all hidden elements appear.
Non-print
One can exclude content from being printed (if the browser supports CSS) by declaring the content to be of the "noprint" class:
<div class="someclass noprint">This will not appear in the print version.</div>
Major style blocks
The portlet class is the style used by all the div blocks around the main content. Identified blocks using that class:
The footer at the bottom of the page includes blocks with the following ids
Style depending on a parameter or variable
Variable class or id
A class or id can depend on the result produced by a template or on a template parameter, e.g. class="abc{{{1|def}}}". For one or more of the possible class names the style of that class can be defined. If the class is undefined it is ignored, so the standard style is used.
In the simplest case we have e.g. class="abc{{{1}}}" and define class abcdef. If the parameter value is "def" it applies.
If a page for general use only makes sense when styles are defined for certain classes, then these have to be specified in the page MediaWiki:Common.css, which applies for all users and all skins, as far as not overridden.
Variable style parameter value
Wikitext like
<span style="display:{{{3|none}}}">Wed</span>
displays "Wed" if parameter 3 is defined, but its value is not "none", and displays nothing if parameter 3 is undefined or "none". If the value of parameter 3 is a display style other than "none", that style is applied.
See also
Wikipedia-specific help
Please see Wikipedia:Catalogue of CSS classes and classes used in microformats
This page is a copy of the master help page at Meta (for general help information all Wikimedia projects can use), with two Wikipedia-specific templates inserted. To update the main text, edit the master help page for all projects at m:Help:Cascading style sheets. For Wikipedia-specific issues, use Template:Ph:Cascading style sheets (the extra text at the bottom of this page) or Template:Phh:Cascading style sheets for a Wikipedia-specific lead (text appears at the top of this page). You are welcome to replace the full wikitext of this page with that of the master page at Meta at any time. To view this page in other languages see the master page at Meta.
