[AI Help] Question: what is *::after

[shikharg1110]

What is the issue with the answer?

The above question only gives the answer of the ::after. It explains what is ::after and :after but not *::after. Therefore, it should also explain what is *::after or *:after

How would you categorize this issue?

• The answer is harmful / unsafe.
• The answer is not correct.
• The answer is not helpful.
• The answer is outdated.

What did you ask?

1. How to center a div with CSS?
2. what is ::after
3. what is *::after

What did AI Help answer?

The ::after pseudo-element in CSS creates a pseudo-element that is the last child of the selected element. It is often used to add cosmetic content to an element. The ::after pseudo-element is represented by two colons (::) and is used to distinguish pseudo-elements from pseudo-classes. However, for backward compatibility, browsers also accept the single colon notation (:after).

To use the ::after pseudo-element, you can define its styles within a CSS rule. Here's an example:

.element::after {
  /* CSS properties and values */
}

By applying styles to the ::after pseudo-element, you can add content, such as text or icons, after the content of the selected element. It is important to note that using the ::after pseudo-element to add content is discouraged, as it may not be reliably accessible to screen readers.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!

What MDN pages did AI Help consult?

• ::after
• break-after
• ::before

[LeoMcA]

Hey @shikharg1110, thanks for reporting this.

I'm on the fence about this one, because while you're correct that it doesn't answer the specific question itself, I think it's still helpful, as it does explain a part of the question. And since AI Help is a conversational interface, there's the opportunity to ask follow up questions to answer parts of the question the original answer didn't.

I followed up your original question of what is *::after with the * is important, and got this answer:

The *::after is a CSS pseudo-element that represents a virtual element that is inserted after the content of an element. It is used to add additional content or styling to an element without modifying the actual HTML content.

The * selector in *::after is a universal selector, which matches any element in the document. This means that the ::after pseudo-element will be applied to all elements in the document.

To use the *::after pseudo-element, you can define its styles using CSS. Here's an example of how you can use it to add a simple content after all elements:

*::after {
  content: "This is added content";
  color: red;
}

In this example, the content property is used to specify the content that will be added after each element, and the color property is used to set the text color of the added content to red.

Please note that the *::after pseudo-element is just one of the many pseudo-elements available in CSS. Each pseudo-element has its own specific use and behavior.

Which gives us the full answer we want.

Similarly, if we ask what is `*::after` as the question (with *::after in markdown code syntax), then we get a response including an explanation of the * part of the question:

The *::after selector in CSS creates a pseudo-element that is the last child of any selected element. It is often used to add cosmetic content to an element. The * represents any element, so *::after can be applied to any element on the page.

Here is an example of how to use the *::after selector in CSS:

*::after {
  /* CSS properties and values */
}

Please note that the pseudo-elements generated by *::after are contained by the element's formatting box and do not apply to replaced elements such as <img> elements. Additionally, it is important to mention that using the *::after pseudo-element to add content is discouraged, as it may not be reliably accessible to screen readers.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!

I'll still mark this as a limitation for a few reasons:

• We don't actually explain anywhere to use markdown code syntax if referencing code in a question
• We could better prompt users to ask clarifying questions, or add clarifying statements, if the answer isn't entirely accurate
• The context we found from MDN for the follow-up question the * is important wasn't relevant in the slightest, since the semantic similarity search was just done on that question, without any context from the previous question

[shikharg1110]

Thank you for your answer.