[Solved] What is this asterisk?

It's a wild card. It means "everything".

what it can do?
could you give me a basic scenario for this wildcard?

Just like in your example above. * {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
That causes everything to have no margin and no padding. Everything on the page. Absolutely everything.

Does this wildcard affect all

how about let say i'll override it like this below,

* {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}

// override.
h1 {
font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
font-size: 16px;
color: #986161;
padding: 8px 8px 4px;
}

ok, what will happen now, does this will override the asterisk character?
or it has no effect at all?

thanks in advance.

Yes it does. Stylesheets are read from top to bottom. Anything that comes later in the sheet overrides things that come earlier.

You just use the * (universal selector) to zero everything first, and then style from there.

thanks guys :rolleyes:

Anna you probably ought to read through this page from the W3C explaining the various selectors so you have better understanding of how they work and what are available (bearing in mind that not all selectors are supported by all browsers, which it doesn't cover)

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/selector.html

And I would also have a read through the specs on cascade and inheritence of CSS rules, which a slightly harder page to to understand but covers important fundemental aspects of how things are handled

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/cascade.html

Hugo.

You also don't want to use that, it's called a "global reset".

Have a look here:

http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/05/01/reset-reloaded/

zero default rules are a debatable issue but cos Meyers pronounced on the subject everyone is slavishly following, without I doubt having any real understanding of what the extended rulesets are designed to cope with :shrug:

Well yes, I still occasionally use a * reset, but I just thought I'd throw it in there

With some well backed-up evidence. The global reset screws with forms elements.

You just use the * (universal selector) to zero everything first, and then style from there.

You're right, but you're also wrong.

Style rules are applied according to their specificity. More specific rules applying before less specific rules. If two or more rules affecting the same element have the same specificity, the last one wins.

The universal selector has less specificity than any other selector, ie. it doesn't matter where the * selector rules are placed with respect to other rules, the other rules will always override the * selector rules.

However, a sensible style sheet organisation strategy is to place the more general rules first. That is, *, then element tag rules, then common classes then ids and descendent styles.

With some well backed-up evidence. The global reset screws with forms elements.

I wasn't knocking Meyer (dodgy out of context quoting ) and yes was aware of the problem with the universal reset. Trouble is not so much with resets per se but more with possibly people not being aware of the critical nature of controlling default settings whatever approach is taken.