CSS tutorials for perfect pagination style
This tutorial explains how to design a pagination for search results or more in general to split a long list of records in more pages. It’s a question I often receive, so I decided to publish a very simple post which explains how to design a perfect pagination style using some lines of HTML and CSS code.

This tutorial also includes HTML/CSS code to implement a Flickr-like, Digg-like, Clean pagination style ready to use in your web projects.
Update as March 17, 2008: My friends Simone Saveri solved some issuse with IE6 and IE7.
Download this tutorial (original)
Download this tutorial (Simone Saveri version)
Typical pagination structure
The following image represents an example of a typical pagination structure:

In general you can identify four main elements:
– Previous/Next button (disabled)
– Current Active page
– Standard Page selector
– Previous/Next button (enabled)
You can design this structure using an HTML list (<ul>) which contains some <li> elements (one for each pagination element) and apply an ID to the <ul> list to assign a specific pagination style to the current list. Take a look at these tutorials for an explanation.
Flickr-like pagination: HTML Code
Image you want to design a Flickr-like pagination style which looks like this:

HTML code is very simple and you can reuse this structure in all pagination-style you want only changing the <ul> ID (in this case I added “pagination-flickr“, in bold in the code below):
<li class=“active”>1</li>
<li><a href=“?page=2”>2</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=3”>3</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=4”>4</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=5”>5</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=6”>6</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=7”>7</a></li>
<li class=“next”><a href=“?page=2”>Next »</a></li>
</ul>
Now, you have only to redefine CSS element properties (ul, li, a).
Flickr-like pagination: CSS Code
Is very simple:
#pagination-flickr li{
font-size:11px;
list-style:none;
}
#pagination-flickr a{
margin-right:2px;
}
#pagination-flickr .previous-off,
#pagination-flickr .next-off {
display:block;
float:left;
font-weight:bold;
padding:3px 4px;
}
#pagination-flickr .next a,
#pagination-flickr .previous a {
border:solid 1px #FFFFFF;
}
#pagination-flickr .active{
font-weight:bold;
display:block;
float:left;
padding:4px 6px;
}
#pagination-flickr a:link,
#pagination-flickr a:visited {
display:block;
float:left;
padding:3px 6px;
text-decoration:none;
}
#pagination-flickr a:hover{
}
Digg-like pagination: HTML Code
Ok, now you want to design a Digg-like pagination style which looks like this:

From the previous tutorial copy and paste the HTML structure. You have only to change the <ul> ID (“pagination-digg” instead of “pagination-flickr“):
<li class=“active”>1</li>
<li><a href=“?page=2”>2</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=3”>3</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=4”>4</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=5”>5</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=6”>6</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=7”>7</a></li>
<li class=“next”><a href=“?page=2”>Next »</a></li>
</ul>
Digg-like pagination: CSS Code
CSS code is very similar to the previous Flickr-like example.You have only to change some attributes, and modify #pagination-flikr ID with #pagination-digg, but CSS pagination elements don’t change:
#pagination-digg li{
font-size:11px;
list-style:none;
margin-right:2px;
}
#pagination-digg a{
margin-right:2px;
}
#pagination-digg .previous-off,
#pagination-digg .next-off {
color:#888888
display:block;
float:left;
font-weight:bold;
margin-right:2px;
padding:3px 4px;
}
#pagination-digg .next a,
#pagination-digg .previous a {
}
#pagination-digg .active{
color:#FFFFFF;
font-weight:bold;
display:block;
float:left;
padding:4px 6px;
}
#pagination-digg a:link,
#pagination-digg a:visited {
display:block;
float:left;
padding:3px 6px;
text-decoration:none;
}
#pagination-digg a:hover{
}
Clean pagination style: HTML Code
If you like minimal, clean design this example shows how to design a very clean pagination style which looks like this:

HTML structure is the same of two previous examples. The only thing you have to change is the <ul> ID with “pagination-clean“:
<li class=“active”>1</li>
<li><a href=“?page=2”>2</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=3”>3</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=4”>4</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=5”>5</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=6”>6</a></li>
<li><a href=“?page=7”>7</a></li>
<li class=“next”><a href=“?page=2”>Next »</a></li>
</ul>
Clean pagination style: CSS Code
CSS code for this kind of pagination style is:
#pagination-clean li{
font-size:11px;
list-style:none;
}
#pagination-clean li, #pagination-clean a{
margin-right:2px;
}
#pagination-clean .previous-off,
#pagination-clean .next-off {
display:block;
float:left;
font-weight:bold;
padding:3px 4px;
}
#pagination-clean .next a,
#pagination-clean .previous a {
border:solid 1px #FFFFFF;
}
#pagination-clean .active{
font-weight:bold;
display:block;
float:left;
padding:4px 6px;
}
#pagination-clean a:link,
#pagination-clean a:visited {
display:block;
float:left;
padding:3px 6px;
text-decoration:none;
}
#pagination-clean a:hover{
}
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