Why is CSS only calling part of a class name?

Question

So I'm currently researching slideshows in school. The place they pointed me to was W3Schools.com where the code below originated.

What I am confused about is the following. In the div tag is "class="mySlides fade". In the CSS file however, that class is not mentioned anywhere. However what is mentioned is .mySlides and .fade

Are these classes in CSS the same thing that is in the div tag? From my understanding, you had to use the whole name ( .mySlides fade ).

Below is the HTML code:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<head>
    <meta charset = "utf-8">
    <script src="./js/main.js"></script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="./styles.css">
</head>

<body>

            <!-- Slideshow container -->
        <div class="slideshow-container">

            <!-- Full-width images with number and caption text -->
            <div class="mySlides fade">
            <div class="numbertext">1 / 3</div>
            <img src="img1.jpg" style="width:100%">
            <div class="text">Caption Text</div>
            </div>
        
            <div class="mySlides fade">
            <div class="numbertext">2 / 3</div>
            <img src="" style="width:100%">
            <div class="text">Caption Two</div>
            </div>
        
            <div class="mySlides fade">
            <div class="numbertext">3 / 3</div>
            <img src="img3.jpg" style="width:100%">
            <div class="text">Caption Three</div>
            </div>
        
            <!-- Next and previous buttons -->
            <a class="prev" onclick="plusSlides(-1)">&#10094;</a>
            <a class="next" onclick="plusSlides(1)">&#10095;</a>
        </div>
        <br>
        
        <!-- The dots/circles -->
        <div style="text-align:center">
            <span class="dot" onclick="currentSlide(1)"></span>
            <span class="dot" onclick="currentSlide(2)"></span>
            <span class="dot" onclick="currentSlide(3)"></span>
        </div> 

</body>

And below is the CSS:

* {box-sizing:border-box}

/* Slideshow container */
.slideshow-container {
  max-width: 1000px;
  position: relative;
  margin: auto;
}

/* Hide the images by default */
.mySlides {
  display: none;
}

/* Next & previous buttons */
.prev, .next {
  cursor: pointer;
  position: absolute;
  top: 50%;
  width: auto;
  margin-top: -22px;
  padding: 16px;
  color: white;
  font-weight: bold;
  font-size: 18px;
  transition: 0.6s ease;
  border-radius: 0 3px 3px 0;
  user-select: none;
}

/* Position the "next button" to the right */
.next {
  right: 0;
  border-radius: 3px 0 0 3px;
}

/* On hover, add a black background color with a little bit see-through */
.prev:hover, .next:hover {
  background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.8);
}

/* Caption text */
.text {
  color: #f2f2f2;
  font-size: 15px;
  padding: 8px 12px;
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 8px;
  width: 100%;
  text-align: center;
}

/* Number text (1/3 etc) */
.numbertext {
  color: #f2f2f2;
  font-size: 12px;
  padding: 8px 12px;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
}

/* The dots/bullets/indicators */
.dot {
  cursor: pointer;
  height: 15px;
  width: 15px;
  margin: 0 2px;
  background-color: #bbb;
  border-radius: 50%;
  display: inline-block;
  transition: background-color 0.6s ease;
}

.active, .dot:hover {
  background-color: #717171;
}

/* Fading animation */
.fade {
  -webkit-animation-name: fade;
  -webkit-animation-duration: 1.5s;
  animation-name: fade;
  animation-duration: 1.5s;
}

@-webkit-keyframes fade {
  from {opacity: .4}
  to {opacity: 1}
}

@keyframes fade {
  from {opacity: .4}
  to {opacity: 1}
}

Does this answer your question? [How to apply two CSS classes to a single element](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5482677/how-to-apply-two-css-classes-to-a-single-element) — disinfor, Nov 11 '21 at 04:02

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 11 '21 at 03:59

0

Your premise that it is one class name is wrong. A space allows you to give multiple class names to the same element.

answered Nov 11 '21 at 03:59

pso

513
1
16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 11 '21 at 03:59

To answer your question: No you do not have to use both at the same time and no they are not the same. Basically, its for scalability and re-usability within CSS/HTML. So what the CSS is doing is calling all elements with the class "fade" and giving it a certain action, and the same with the "mySlides" class. Each are style differently in CSS but applied to the same element. This helps keep the code more readable and also allows you to apply the fade effects to other elements without the mySlides class or vise versa.

Why is CSS only calling part of a class name?

2 Answers2