In css code a:active is not working - css

Question

I am using CSS code like this
.top_nav ul li a{
color: #444; background: #111;
}
.top_nav ul li a:hover{
color: #fff; background: #555;
}
.top_nav ul li a:active{
color: #111; background: #fff;
}
But the problem is this when any page is active, on navigation menu that link's background not change. Background of that link is same as other's.

Answer 1

You are probably looking for focusing an active link in your menu with different color. Mind that a:active is not intended for that purpose.
A link only takes up the a:active state when it is clicked, so you only see the change for a few seconds. You should look for a different way for getting it done, like adding a new css class for the selected menu item from your server side script.

Answer 2

The active is only applied when you click on it. Do it like this:
<li>Link</li>
And then style it
top_nav ul li a.active {
color: #111;
background: #fff;
}

Answer 3

The a:active selector refers to active state of a link, not your active page.
http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/sel_active.asp
You will have to set some "active page" class to your menu item for the page you are currently viewing and refer to that in yor CSS.
If you have static HTML pages, you can add a class to your navigation items representing the current active page:
<li class="current">...</li>
and then change your css to:
.top_nav ul li.current a {
color: #111; background: #fff;
}