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Asked: 2026-05-10T23:05:33+00:00

In a stylesheet i have: * HTML BODY { padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom:

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In a stylesheet i have:

    * HTML BODY     {         padding-right: 0px;         padding-left: 0px;         padding-bottom: 25px;         padding-top: 190px;     }     * HTML #maincontent     {         width: 100%;         height: 100%;     }

i know that a . means class and a # means applied to the id, but what does * HTML mean?

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1 Answer

  1. The * is the universal selector, and thus matches any element. e.g.

    P * { }

    Matches any element which is the child of a P tag

    * HTML

    should mean nothing because HTML cannot be the child of anything (by definition). It’s used because IE (edit, at least IE 5 – 6 – thanks RoBorg!) ignores * and so it can be used to define IE specific styles:

    HTML {  // Normal styles }  * HTML {  // IE Specific styles  }

    See http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=358552

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