How to set the last-clicked anchor to be a different color from all other links?

Question

a:link {color:#FF0000} /* unvisited link */
a:visited {color:#00FF00} /* visited link */
a:hover {color:#FF00FF} /* mouse over link */
a:active {color:#0000FF} /* selected link */

The pseudo-classes (link, visited, hover, active) don't do exactly what I want which is to highlight the last-clicked link on a page to be a different color from all of the other links on the page.

Would this require JQuery and, if so, any suggestions?

Solution 1

It wouldn't require jQuery, but it's sure easy to do with jQuery.

$("a").click(function () { 
      $("a").css("color", "blue");
      $(this).css("color", "yellow");
    });

Solution 2

You don't need Javascript. The CSS pseudo-class that you're looking for is 'focus'.

ps: it holds the 'last clicked' color only until you click on something else in the page.

a:link {color:#00FF00}
a:visited {color:#00FF00}
a:hover {color:#FF00FF}
a:focus {color:#0000FF} /* this one! */

<b>
<a href="#">link 1</a>
<a href="javascript:void(0);">link 2</a>
<a href="#">link 3</a>
<a href="javascript:void(0);">link 4</a>
</b>

Solution 3

You definitely can't do it with css.

With jQuery you could do something like

$("a").live("click", function() {
    $("a").removeClass("yourHighlightClass");
    $(this).addClass("yourHighlightClass");
});

Comments

[blueberry pancake]

Why do you use a.bind instead of a.click? I'm not familiar with bind.

[blueberry pancake]

Wow. That's nice. Can't believe how little code it takes. Thanks.

[eyelidlessness]

blueberry pancake, click(callback) is a shortcut to bind('click', callback)

[Adam A]

You don't use classes, plus you duped my answer 4 minutes later. I didn't think it added anything. No offense meant.

[nuiun]

It is certainly not a dupe, and I resent the accusation. I hope you don't downvote answers in all the threads that you yourself personally answer.

[Valkea]

This should be the accepted answer. It works and it is so simple :)