An introduction to CSS pseudo-element hacks
CSS is a versatile style language that is most frequently used to control the look and formatting of an HTML document based on information in the document tree. But there are some common publishing effects – such as formatting the first line of a paragraph – that would not be possible if you were only able to style elements based on this information. Fortunately, CSS has pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes.
That's the intro to Nicolas Gallagher's introduction to CSS pseudo-element hacks. Of course, not everyone thinks that CSS hacks are a good idea, but I'd suggest that any web developer who is interested in learning CSS pseudo-elements that are part of CSS 2.1, namely, how to use :first-letter, :first-line, :before, and :after – and how the :before and :after pseudo-elements can be exploited to create some interesting effects; should take a good look at this comprehensive tutorial. It includes sections on:
Browser support for pseudo-elements
Alternative ways to use pseudo-elements
CSS speech bubbles
CSS folded corners
and Pseudo background-position
"Some new applications will emerge, and existing ones will fade away as browser implementation of ‘CSS3 modules’ continues to improve," Gallagher says, but for now these are still relevant.