html css google-chrome css-selectors pseudo-element

How to hide "/" character delimiter in total time when using the native audio player in Chromium using CSS only?

I'm styling a native browser element, <audio>, and to do so, it's necessary to work with native browser pseudo elements, such as:

.audio-message audio::-webkit-media-controls-current-time-display {
        display: none;
}

Hiding this element makes the total audio duration element appear with a "/" in front.

I wish to hide this slash, as it makes no sense in the context where the remaining time is hidden, but I cannot use :first-letter with native element selectors.

My question is, how can we apply something like:

.audio-message audio::-webkit-media-controls-current-time-display::first-letter {
    display: none;  
}

The example doesn't work, I tried :is(), using :first-letter instead of ::, and also changing to hover and adding important to test if the issue was the selector.

I'd rather a CSS only solution, I know it could be done in JS in a way or other, but there are several audio elements and it would hurt performance.

audio::-webkit-media-controls-current-time-display  {
    display: none;
}

audio::-webkit-media-controls-current-time-display::first-letter {
    /* Doesn't work */
    display: none;  
}

<audio controls="" src="https://www.w3schools.com/tags/horse.ogg"></audio>

Test the snippet using Chrome-based browser please.

Solution

The audio player is displayed differently in every browser. We could only address each of them with cumbersome coding, thus it's a better approach to create a custom audio player, like this for example:

// scripts.js
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
  var audio = document.getElementById('audio');
  var playPauseButton = document.getElementById('play-pause');
  var playIcon = document.getElementById('play-icon');
  var pauseIcon = document.getElementById('pause-icon');
  var volumeControl = document.getElementById('volume');
  var muteButton = document.getElementById('mute');
  var speakerIcon = document.getElementById('speaker-icon');
  var muteIcon = document.getElementById('mute-icon');
  var speedOptions = document.querySelectorAll('.speed-option');
  var timeline = document.getElementById('timeline');
  var currentTimeDisplay = document.getElementById('current-time');

  // Play/Pause functionality
  playPauseButton.addEventListener('click', function() {
    if (audio.paused) {
      audio.play();
      playIcon.style.display = 'none';
      pauseIcon.style.display = 'block';
    } else {
      audio.pause();
      playIcon.style.display = 'block';
      pauseIcon.style.display = 'none';
    }
  });
  // Revert to play icon when audio ends
  audio.addEventListener('ended', function() {
    playIcon.style.display = 'block';
    pauseIcon.style.display = 'none';
  });
  // Volume control functionality
  volumeControl.addEventListener('input', function() {
    audio.volume = volumeControl.value;
    if (audio.volume === 0) {
      speakerIcon.style.display = 'none';
      muteIcon.style.display = 'block';
    } else {
      speakerIcon.style.display = 'block';
      muteIcon.style.display = 'none';
    }
  });

  // Mute functionality
  muteButton.addEventListener('click', function() {
    if (audio.muted) {
      audio.muted = false;
      speakerIcon.style.display = 'block';
      muteIcon.style.display = 'none';
    } else {
      audio.muted = true;
      speakerIcon.style.display = 'none';
      muteIcon.style.display = 'block';
    }
  });

  // Playback speed control functionality
  speedOptions.forEach(function(option) {
    option.addEventListener('click', function() {
      audio.playbackRate = this.dataset.speed;
    });
  });

  // Update current time display and timeline
  audio.addEventListener('timeupdate', function() {
    var currentMinutes = Math.floor(audio.currentTime / 60);
    var currentSeconds = Math.floor(audio.currentTime % 60);
    if (currentSeconds < 10) {
      currentSeconds = '0' + currentSeconds;
    }
    currentTimeDisplay.textContent = currentMinutes + ':' + currentSeconds;

    // Update timeline
    var value = (audio.currentTime / audio.duration) * 100;
    timeline.value = value;
  });

  // Seek functionality for timeline
  timeline.addEventListener('input', function() {
    var time = (timeline.value / 100) * audio.duration;
    audio.currentTime = time;
  });
});

/* styles.css */
.audio-player {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  background: #f3f3f3;
  border-radius: 100px;
  padding: 5px;
  gap: 10px;
  width: 100%;
  max-width: 290px;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

button {
  padding: 10px 10px;
  background-color: transparent;
  border: none;
  border-bottom-right-radius: 20px;
  border-top-right-radius: 20px;
  font-size: 20px;
  line-height: 10px;
  z-index: 37;
  position: relative;
  cursor: pointer;
}


#play-pause {
  border-radius: 50px;
}

#play-pause:hover {
  background-color: #e0e0e0;
}

input[type="range"] {
  width: 100px;
}

#timeline {
  width: 80px;
}

.volume-control {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  position: relative;
}

.volume-control input[type="range"] {
  position: relative;
  top: -2px;
  right: 50px;
  width: 47px;
}

.wrap {
  width: 0;
  overflow: hidden;
  position: absolute;
  float: right;
}

.volume-control:hover .wrap {
  overflow: visible;
}

#play-icon,
#pause-icon,
#speaker-icon,
#mute-icon {
  width: 24px;
  height: 24px;
}

.dropdown {
  position: relative;
  display: inline-block;
}

.dropdown-content {
  display: none;
  position: absolute;
  background-color: #f9f9f9;
  min-width: 50px;
  box-shadow: 0px 8px 16px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
  z-index: 1;
}

.dropdown-content button {
  color: black;
  padding: 8px 12px;
  text-decoration: none;
  display: block;
  background: none;
  border: none;
  width: 100%;
  text-align: left;
  font-size: 14px;
}

.dropdown-content button:hover {
  background-color: #f1f1f1;
}

.dropdown:hover .dropdown-content {
  display: block;
}

.wrap::before {
  background-color: #e0e0e0;
  content: "";
  margin: 0 auto;
  position: absolute;
  right: -45px;
  width: 100px;
  height: 43px;
  border-radius: 50px;
  top: -17px;
  border: 5px solid #f3f3f3;
}

input[type="range"] {
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  width: 100%;
  height: 5px;
  border-radius: 5px;
  background: #595959;
  outline: none;
  opacity: 1;
  transition: opacity .2s;
}

input[type="range"]:hover {
  opacity: 1;
}

input[type="range"]::-webkit-slider-thumb {
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  appearance: none;
  width: 11px;
  height: 11px;
  border-radius: 50%;
  background: #000;
  cursor: pointer;
  box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

input[type="range"]::-moz-range-thumb {
  width: 11px;
  height: 11px;
  border-radius: 50%;
  background: #000;
  cursor: pointer;
  box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
  border: 0;
}

input[type="range"]::-ms-thumb {
  width: 11px;
  height: 11px;
  border-radius: 50%;
  background: #000;
  cursor: pointer;
  box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

/* For IE */
input[type="range"]::-ms-track {
  width: 100%;
  height: 8px;
  border-color: transparent;
  color: transparent;
  background: transparent;
}

input[type="range"]::-ms-fill-lower {
  background: #f0f0f0;
  border-radius: 10px;
}

input[type="range"]::-ms-fill-upper {
  background: #f0f0f0;
  border-radius: 10px;
}

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Custom Audio Player</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
</head>

<body>
  <div class="audio-player">
    <audio id="audio" src="https://www.w3schools.com/tags/horse.ogg"></audio>
    <button id="play-pause">
            <svg id="play-icon" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
                <path d="M8 5v14l11-7L8 5z" fill="currentColor"/>
            </svg>
            <svg id="pause-icon" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="display: none;">
                <path d="M6 19h4V5H6v14zm8-14v14h4V5h-4z" fill="currentColor"/>
            </svg>
        </button>
    <span id="current-time">0:00</span>
    <input type="range" id="timeline" value="0" max="100">
    <div class="volume-control">
      <button id="mute">
                <svg  id="speaker-icon" width="24px" height="24px" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
                    <path d="M16 9C16.5 9.5 17 10.5 17 12C17 13.5 16.5 14.5 16 15M19 6C20.5 7.5 21 10 21 12C21 14 20.5 16.5 19 18M13 3L7 8H5C3.89543 8 3 8.89543 3 10V14C3 15.1046 3.89543 16 5 16H7L13 21V3Z" stroke="#000000" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/>
                    </svg>
                <svg id="mute-icon"  width="24px" height="24px" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="display: none;">
                    <path d="M10.6 5L13 3V8M3 3L21 21M13 18V21L7 16H5C3.89543 16 3 15.1046 3 14V10C3 9.63571 3.09739 9.29417 3.26756 9" stroke="#000000" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/>
                    </svg>
            </button>
      <span class="wrap"><input type="range" id="volume" min="0" max="1" step="0.01" value="1"></span>

    </div>
    <div class="dropdown">
      <button id="speed-menu">⋮</button>
      <div class="dropdown-content">
        <button class="speed-option" data-speed="0.5">0.5x</button>
        <button class="speed-option" data-speed="1">1x</button>
        <button class="speed-option" data-speed="1.5">1.5x</button>
        <button class="speed-option" data-speed="2">2x</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
  <script src="scripts.js"></script>
</body>

</html>

EDIT:

Here's a pure CSS approach (workaround):

audio::-webkit-media-controls-current-time-display {
  display: none;
}

.wrap {
  position: relative;
}

/*essential part for the cover: */
.wrap::before {
  content: '';
  background: #f3f3f3;
  width: 10px;
  height: 15px;
  position: absolute;
  top: 20px;
  left: 42px;
  z-index: 1;
}

/*to hide the cover in Firefox: */
@-moz-document url-prefix() {
  .wrap::before {
    content: none;
  }
}

<div class="wrap"><audio controls="" src="https://www.w3schools.com/tags/horse.ogg"></audio>
  <div>

This covers the "/" with the matching background color of the background it stands on.