Are descendant selectors more general than child selectors?

Descendant selectors can be considered more general than child selectors because they match elements that are nested within a specified parent element, regardless of their depth in the nesting hierarchy. A descendant selector uses a space between two selectors, meaning it will select all elements that are descendants (children, grandchildren, and so on) of a specified parent, which provides a broader range of targets within the DOM structure.

In contrast, child selectors are more specific as they only match elements that are direct children of a specified parent element. This means that a child selector only affects the immediate children and not any deeper nested elements, making it less general than a descendant selector. Thus, when comparing the two, the generality of the descendant selector allows it to apply styles or actions to a wider range of nested elements compared to the more contained child selector.