htmlcsscss-selectors

Why is nth-child selector not working?


I am using the nth-child selector to add background images for different social icons. However, all icons are appearing the same. What am I doing wrong?

.social-logo {
    display: inline-block;
    width: 24px;
    height: 24px;
    transition: background-image .2s;
}

#social-links div:nth-child(1) {
    background-image: url('https://mysql-raigovind93.c9users.io/Cally%20Dai//img/footer/logo-linkedin.svg');
}

#social-links div:nth-child(1):hover {
    background-image: url('https://mysql-raigovind93.c9users.io/Cally%20Dai//img/footer/logo-linkedin-copy.svg');
}

#social-links div:nth-child(2) {
    background-image: url('https://mysql-raigovind93.c9users.io/Cally%20Dai//img/footer/logo-dribbble.svg');
}

#social-links div:nth-child(2):hover {
    background-image: url('https://mysql-raigovind93.c9users.io/Cally%20Dai//img/footer/logo-dribbble-copy.svg');
}

#social-links div:nth-child(3) {
    background-image: url('https://mysql-raigovind93.c9users.io/Cally%20Dai//img/footer/logo-email.svg');
}

#social-links div:nth-child(3):hover {
    background-image: url('https://mysql-raigovind93.c9users.io/Cally%20Dai//img/footer/logo-email-copy.svg');
}

#social-links div:nth-child(4) {
    background-image: url('https://mysql-raigovind93.c9users.io/Cally%20Dai//img/footer/logo-insta.svg');
}

#social-links div:nth-child(4):hover {
    background-image: url('https://mysql-raigovind93.c9users.io/Cally%20Dai//img/footer/logo-insta-copy.svg');
}
<div id="social-links">
  <a href=""><div class="social-logo"></div></a>
  <a href=""><div class="social-logo"></div></a>
  <a href=""><div class="social-logo"></div></a>
  <a href=""><div class="social-logo"></div></a>
</div>


Solution

  • The nth-child selector counts siblings (i.e., elements having the same parent).

    In your HTML structure, div.social-logo is always the first, last and only child of a. So nth-child has only one element to count.

    However, there are multiple anchor elements, all of which are siblings (children of #social-links), so nth-child can target each one.

    #social-links a:nth-child(1) div 
    #social-links a:nth-child(2) div 
    #social-links a:nth-child(3) div 
                  .
                  .
                  .