Can CSS's `content` Property Insert HTML?

Inserting HTML with CSS's Content Property: A Feasibility Inquiry

CSS's content property offers a way to generate content and add it before or after an element using pseudo-classes like :before and :after. While this approach can simplify certain styling tasks, it raises the question of whether it's possible to insert HTML code instead of plain text.

Problem:

A developer seeks to implement HTML code insertion using the content property. Consider the following code:

.header:before {
  content: '<a href="#top">Back</a>';
}

With this approach, the intended goal is to generate an element with the text "Back" and a link to the top of the page. However, the developer wonders if there's a way to achieve this using purely CSS.

Answer:

Unfortunately, inserting HTML code using the content property is not feasible. According to the CSS specifications:

"Generated content does not alter the document tree. In particular, it is not fed back to the document language processor (e.g., for reparsing)."

This means that the content property treats string values literally, preventing them from being interpreted as markup.

In the example provided, using the given CSS with the HTML:

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