Child combinator and ::after pseudo-element

Question

Well, that should be quite simple. I have the following CSS snippet:

.nav-item > .nav-link:not(.active)::after {
  content: "test";
  display: block;
  width: 0;
  border-bottom: solid 2px #019fb6;
  transition: width .3s;
}

However, I'd like to do something like that:

.nav-item::after > .nav-link:not(.active) {
  content: "test";
  display: block;
  width: 0;
  border-bottom: solid 2px #019fb6;
  transition: width .3s;
}

And finally:

.nav-item:hover::after > .nav-link:not(.active) {
  width: 100%;
}

I'm trying to create a hover effect that only works on nav-items that doesn't have the "active" class. But, that ins't working. What am I doing wrong?

Html:

<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link text-left" href="#">Second Item</a></li>
<li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link text-left active" href="#">FirstItem</a></li>

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The main issue is that, at the time of your post, CSS doesn't allow you to go up . It seems you're trying to detect an active class at the nested <a> level and apply something to the pseudo content of <a> 's parent element. Instead, move the active class to the parent ( li ) level. Then you can control the pseudo content. Note that I added overflow: hidden to the un-hovered state, so that the content was not visible. In addition, I added opacity to the transition to make it a little smoother looking.

 .nav-item:not(.active)::after { content: "test"; display: block; width: 0; opacity: 0; border-bottom: solid 2px #019fb6; transition: width 0.3s, opacity 0.3s; overflow: hidden; } .nav-item:not(.active):hover::after { width: 100%; opacity: 1; }

 <ul> <li class="nav-item active"> <!-- active moved here --> <a class="nav-link text-left" href="#">FirstItem</a></li> <li class="nav-item"> <a class="nav-link text-left" href="#">Second Item (active)</a></li> </ul>