Link language: Rule says one thing, Live View shows another

Question

Here is what my link rule says:
a:link (squiggly bracket I can't replicate)
     color:#414958 (dark gray)
     text-decoration:  underline;
Here is what my link looks like:
<li><a href=http://champaign.org/ target="_blank">Go To Champaign Public Library</a>
What my screen shows is a beautiful left sidebar in beautiful pale yellow, with a nice boxed list showing Go to Champaign Public Library, with no separate coloration or underlining indicating it's a link.  Nothing happens when I hover over it either, other than the hover color is enabled.
What did I do wrong?

Answer 1

When you click links in browsers to test them, they assume the a:visted state.  If no visited state is defined in your style sheet, they will assume browser default colors.
For best cross browser results, set-up your CSS psuedo-classes (links) in the following sequence:
a:link {color:#414958 }
a:visited {color: #CCC }
a:hover,
a:active,
a:focus {color: #FF0000 }
HTML:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://champaign.org/" target="_blank">Go To Champaign Public Library</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Some Link</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Some Link</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Some Link</a></li>
</ul>
Nancy O.
Alt-Web Design & Publishing
Web | Graphics | Print | Media  Specialists 
http://alt-web.com/
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