Specified value

The specified value of a CSS property is the value it receives from the document's style sheet. The specified value for a given property is determined according to the following rules:

  1. If the document's style sheet explicitly specifies a value for the property, the given value will be used.
  2. If the document's style sheet doesn't specify a value but it is an inherited property, the value will be taken from the parent element.
  3. If none of the above pertain, the element's initial value will be used.

Examples

HTML

<p>My specified color is given explicitly in the CSS.</p>

<div>The specified values of all my properties default to their
    initial values, because none of them are given in the CSS.</div>

<div class="fun">
  <p>The specified value of my font family is not given explicitly
      in the CSS, so it is inherited from my parent. However,
      the border is not an inheriting property.</p>
</div>

CSS

.fun {
  border: 1px dotted pink;
  font-family: fantasy;
}

p {
  color: green;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 2 (CSS 2.2) Specification
# specified-value

See also