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Removing Dotted Line around Active Links using CSS
We can remove the default behavior of hyperlinks which is to show a dotted outline around themselves when active or focused by declaring CSS outline property on active/focused links to be none.
Syntax
a, a:active, a:focus {
outline: none;
}
Example
Let's see how to remove dotted line around active links with an example −
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Remove dotted line around links using css</title>
<style>
div {
color: #000;
padding: 20px;
background-image: linear-gradient(135deg, #dc3545 0%, #9599E2 100%);
text-align: center;
margin: 20px;
border-radius: 10px;
}
a {
color: white;
text-decoration: none;
font-size: 18px;
padding: 10px 20px;
background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.3);
border-radius: 5px;
display: inline-block;
}
/* Remove dotted outline from links */
a, a:active, a:focus {
outline: none;
}
a:hover {
background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<h1>HTML Links Demo</h1>
<a href="https://google.com" target="_blank">Go To Google</a>
<br><br>
<a href="/html/index.htm">HTML Tutorial</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>
A gradient background container appears with white styled links. When you click or tab to focus on the links, no dotted outline appears around them due to the outline: none property.
Alternative Method: Using Transparent Outline
Instead of completely removing the outline, you can make it transparent to maintain accessibility while hiding the visual effect −
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.container {
padding: 30px;
text-align: center;
}
.link {
color: #007bff;
text-decoration: underline;
margin: 10px;
font-size: 16px;
}
/* Make outline transparent instead of none */
.link, .link:active, .link:focus {
outline: 1px solid transparent;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<h2>Links with Transparent Outline</h2>
<a href="#" class="link">Sample Link 1</a>
<br><br>
<a href="#" class="link">Sample Link 2</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Blue underlined links appear without any visible dotted outline when clicked or focused, but still maintain accessibility structure.
Conclusion
The outline: none property effectively removes dotted outlines from active links. However, consider using outline: transparent instead to maintain accessibility for keyboard navigation users.
Updated on: 2026-03-15T14:04:19+05:30
3K+ Views
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