content/snippets/css/s/root-vs-html.md
---
title: What's the difference between :root and html in CSS?
shortTitle: :root vs html
type: story
language: css
tags: [layout,selector]
cover: tree-roots
excerpt: The CSS selectors used to target the root element of an HTML share some similarities, but they also have some differences.
dateModified: 2022-05-22
---
CSS has two ways to target the root element of an HTML document - the `:root` pseudo-class and the `html` selector. While these are very similar to each other, they have a couple of differences you should know.
## Selector specificity
The `:root` selector has a higher specificity than the `html` selector. This is because `:root` is a pseudo-class selector, while `html` is a type selector.
```css
:root {
background-color: red;
}
html {
background-color: blue;
}
/* The HTML document's root element will have a red background-color. */
```
## Targeting the root element
CSS can be used to style other types of documents, apart from HTML. This is where the `:root` element comes in to play, allowing you to style the root element of a document. This can be especially important when styling SVG documents, where the `html` selector will not work.