Thanks, Chris, that second article is a gem, especially when you get down to Lea’s and the others’ explanations.

Doesn’t mean I like it, would be really great to be able to identify those required elements more easily, but at least I get it now…

This quote from @chriscoyier really drove home the definition of :before and :after, which was not right in my head:

It’s not “before” and “after” the element, it’s “before” and “after” the content inside the element.

Cheers,
Atg