What defines a CSS selector?

The selection identifying what defines a CSS selector centers on understanding its role in styling HTML elements. A CSS selector operates as a pattern used to select the elements in a document that you want to style. It is not merely the styles themselves or the HTML elements in isolation, but rather it serves as a name indicating which specific elements are targeted for style rules within the CSS.

For example, when a selector like "h1" is declared in CSS, it points to all <h1> elements in the HTML document. The properties defined in the style rules that follow will be applied to those selected elements. Thus, seeing a CSS selector as an entity that identifies which elements receive particular styling is crucial.

This understanding differentiates it from the other options. A specific style rule represents the actual styling (properties and values) that is applied after the selector identifies the elements. An HTML element itself refers to the structure of the document, like <div> or <p>, without involving the CSS aspect. A type of attribute relates to HTML attributes, such as class or id, which are not selectors by themselves but can be used within selectors.

Therefore, recognizing a CSS selector as the foundational tool that determines which elements are styled is key to grasping