Is there a way to express the CSS3 negation pseudo-class in CSS2?

Question

For example, I have some CSS3 code:

.iMore:not (.__lod ):active {
    color: #fff
}

.iMore.__lod {
    color: #888
}

I need to somehow express the same thing in CSS2. I figure it would have to be more verbose, but is it even possible?

Answer 1

This isn't possible. The best you can hope for is to set a default style (.iMore), and some sort of "active" style (.__lod). Removing the active style class will "disable" the element.

The problem with CSS2 is that it was never originally meant as a language to perform logic operations as CSS3 lets you do. Instead, it was designed to take what was there and--without much computation--style it based on those directives. Basically, as classes/IDs/etc are added, CSS2 lets you add on descriptors. CSS3 introduces some logic and computational structures (nth-child, anybody?), so it's technically not fully reversible.