Apply style to first element in a row of similar elements

Question

I have the following list (the numbers are just for reference)

alpha1
alpha2


        
      

Answer 1

Here is a cross browser solution using JavaScript:

http://jsfiddle.net/YhvGw/

function applyStyleToFirstDiv(className, styleAttr, val,baseSelector) {
    //Allow to specify a base element to search in
    if(baseSelector == null){
        baseSelector = document    
    }
    var divElements = baseSelector.getElementsByTagName("div"),
        len = divElements.length;
    var prevWas = false,currentIs;
    // Go through all the divs
    for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
        var cur = divElements[i];
        var classes = cur.className.split(" ");
        currentIs = false;
        for (var j = 0; j < classes.length; j++) {
            //If you find a matching class
            if (classes[j] === className) {
                currentIs = true;
                break;
            }
        }
        //If the current one matches, and the last one didn't, apply the style, otherwise don't
        if(currentIs && !prevWas){
            cur.style[styleAttr] = val;    
        }
        prevWas = currentIs;

    }
}
//usage sample
applyStyleToFirstDiv("A","color","yellow");