The Universal Selector

The universal selector, *, is very useful because it matches any element. It is useful for many things, particularly in user preferences for fonts or, for example, colors:

blockquote {  /* This matches the blockquote element */
  color: white;
  background: blue none;
  }

blockquote * { /* This matches any element inside blockquote */
  color: white;
  background: transparent none;
  }

/* declarations of "color" for any element that could be within
   blockquote, such as links, must be in this stylesheet too */

The universal selector is very useful if a user with a disability must enforce some preference for all elements, for example, large fonts. It is also useful when specifying colors.

(Up to User Stylesheets Guide, CSS, David Baron)

LDB, dbaron@dbaron.org, 1999-06-15