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The :link and :visited pseudo-classes
should be mutually exclusive. An element can never match both at
the same time. MacIE incorrectly has all links match
the :link pseudo-class, even if they also match
the :visited pseudo-class. This can mislead authors
using MacIE to develop pages and lead to pages unusable on browsers
that handle this distinction correctly.
This page uses the following stylesheet:
:link { color: blue; background: yellow; }
/* leave visited links as users default, however good an idea that may be */
Now we have what is hopefully a visited link, which MacIE incorrectly gives the same background as unvisited links. (However, its built in "UA stylesheet" rule for the foreground color still wins, which shows it is not truly acting as though the rules were given in a UA stylesheet.)