# Firefox, user-defined stylesheets, and links
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 22, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322 "2005-06-22T06:31:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/1 "2005-06-22T06:31:43Z")
I got a quick question about this. I use my user-defined stylesheets to remove link underlines but make the text underline when hovered over. My user stylesheet has stuff like
```auto
a:link {text-decoration:none}
a:hover {text-decoration:underline}
a:active {text-decoration:underline}
```
Etc. It’s nice. Except with internal links. See, the “name” part of an internal link on a web page - the bit that’s not actually a link, but is _linked to_ by an internal link will underline when the mouse moves over it. Sometimes (with badly designed sites) that’s whole paragraphs.
So can anyone help me here? How can I change my stylesheet to fix that stuff? I’d like it to make a distinction. As a bonus, I might add some special property to internal links - it’s always nice to know before I click. But I don’t want any formatting at all on the “name” link.
Bonus question: I need to change some extension properties. However, recently, when I try to view my extension list, it’s empty. Is there a fix? Or even just another way to access the properties to turn off some extensions?
---
### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/2 "2005-06-22T06:35:07Z")
Ooh! Another question. Can I use my stylesheet to make the little dotted border around active links (put in by the browser by default, I think) disappear, to be replaced with what I want?
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/3 "2005-06-22T07:59:39Z")
[ol]
[li]Add the following to your style sheet:[/li]**a[name] {text-decoration:none}**
[li]The extensions list shouldn’t be empty. Did you try reinstalling Firefox?[/li][li]I don’t know if you can make it disappear completely, but you can give it another border and the normal dotted lines will become harder to see. Try something like:[/li] **a:active {border: 1px solid red}**
[/ol]
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/4 "2005-06-22T08:06:12Z")
Actually, for your last question, [this page](http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www/links.html#selrect) explains several possible workarounds.
---
### Author:  [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/5 "2005-06-22T09:06:52Z")
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> Bonus question: I need to change some extension properties. However, recently, when I try to view my extension list, it’s empty. Is there a fix? Or even just another way to access the properties to turn off some extensions?
There’s another way to access the properties, but on a much lower level… type “about:config” in your address bar.
---
### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/6 "2005-06-22T12:45:39Z")
> [@Mr2001](#):
>
> There’s another way to access the properties, but on a much lower level… type “about:config” in your address bar.
I know certain extensions store properties in there, but do all of them?
I’ll probably have to try a reinstall.
---
### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/7 "2005-06-22T12:48:55Z")
One more question has come up: the way my stylesheets are set up now, the underlines only appear on unvisited links. How do I set a property for visited hover links and visited active links?
---
### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/8 "2005-06-22T14:34:24Z")
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> I got a quick question about this. I use my user-defined stylesheets to remove link underlines but make the text underline when hovered over.
Slightly off topic, but this is generally considered **a bad thing to do**.
See the famous “Top Ten Mistakes of Web Design” at [http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html). This is mistake #3.
To quote from the details about links: “Users shouldn’t have to guess or scrub the page to find out where they can click.”
I’d really suggest reconsidering doing such a thing.
---
### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/9 "2005-06-22T14:44:55Z")
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> One more question has come up: the way my stylesheets are set up now, the underlines only appear on unvisited links. How do I set a property for visited hover links and visited active links?
**a:visited:hover {text-decoration: underline}**
---
### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-user-defined-stylesheets-and-links/309322/10 "2005-06-22T15:08:19Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#):
>
> Slightly off topic, but this is generally considered **a bad thing to do**.
>
> See the famous “Top Ten Mistakes of Web Design” at [http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html](http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html). This is mistake #3.
>
> To quote from the details about links: “Users shouldn’t have to guess or scrub the page to find out where they can click.”
>
> I’d really suggest reconsidering doing such a thing.
Note that I said on my _user-defined_ style page. I prefer not to have underlines on links because they interfere with reading. I’m sure I’ll be able to manage my confusion.