CSS :nth Selectors Header

Question

I need some help with selecting letters/words from headers (h1,h2,..).

This is a CSS Zen Garden, which means I can only use CSS and can't edit HTML. I need to it with css Selectors. I tried using different ::nth selectors but I haven't found a solution yet.

If i could change the HTML i would span the words i need in the header and make it get a new colour but here it's not possible...

I need to select the 10th letter of h3 and change colour to red in section preamble and in explanation section I need to change it too.

I tried using the nth selectors ::nth-letter, ::last-line, ::nth-word. ::first-letter works in the third header, but the rest won't.

/*eerste section*/

.preamble h3 {
    font-family: fraktur;
    font-size: 15em;
    color: #4A4A4A;
    margin: 5%;
}

.preamble h3::nth-letter (5)  {
  color:#C54B36;
}

.preamble {
    /* width: 80%; */
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: 1fr;
    margin: 50px auto;
    /* border: 2px solid #000000; */
    background-image: url('../images/foto1.png');
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    /*background-size: contain;*/
    background-size: 40%;
    background-position: 93% 82%;
}

.preamble p {
    width: 47%;
    margin: 15px 40px;
}


/*einde eerste section*/


/*tweede section*/

.explanation h3 {
    font-family: baskerville;
    font-weight: 100;
    font-size: 10em;
    max-width: 42%;
    color: #4A4A4A;
    margin-right: 12%;
}

.explanation {
    /* width: 80%; */
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: 1fr;
    margin: 50px auto;
    /* border: 2px solid #000000; */
    background-image: url('../images/dame.png');
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-size: contain;
    background-position: 13% 82%;
    justify-items: end;
}

.explanation p {
    width: 47%;
    margin: 15px 40px;
}


/*vierde section*/

.requirements h3 {
    font-family: fraktur;
    font-weight: 100;
    font-size: 15em;
    color: #4A4A4A;
    margin: 5%;
}

.requirements {
    width: 80%;
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: 1fr;
    margin: 50px auto; 
    background-image: url('../images/fin.png');
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-size: 30%;
    background-position: center bottom;
    justify-items: end;*/
}

.requirements p {
    margin: 0 auto;
    column-count: 2;
    column-gap: 50px;
}

.requirements h3::first-letter {
  color:#C54B36;
}
/*einde vierde section*/

<section class="intro" id="zen-intro">
  <header role="banner">
   <h1>CSS Zen Garden</h1>
   <h2>The Beauty of <abbr title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</abbr> Design</h2>
  </header>

  <div class="summary" id="zen-summary" role="article">
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   <p>Download the example <a href="/examples/index" title="This page's source HTML code, not to be modified.">html file</a> and <a href="/examples/style.css" title="This page's sample CSS, the file you may modify.">css file</a></p>
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 </section>

 <div class="main supporting" id="zen-supporting" role="main">
  <div class="explanation" id="zen-explanation" role="article">
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Answer 1

:nth-letter - why is it not working?

It looks there is no such thing as:

:nth-letter(10);

Edit:

Here is an example of nth-"everything" JavaScript that someone code: https://codepen.io/FWeinb/pen/djuIx

I hope in your project you can add javascript!

Answer 2

Ok, don't do this, but I've made a quick example to accompany my comment.

What I did is split the actual title in 3 pseudo elements, of which the 2nd only contains the letter E which I made red. The original text should somehow collapse, I just chose 0px font-size here as a quick hack that works in most desktop browsers.

This is of course ugly, but it works and is not really bad for accessibility/SEO because pseudo elements are not read out by screen readers(or should not?) and the original title is still there.

.preamble::before {
  color: black;
  content: 'The Road to ';
  font-size: 20px;
}

h3 {
  color: transparent;
  font-size: 0;
  display: inline-block;
}

h3::before {
  color: red;
  content: 'E';
  font-size: 20px;
}

h3::after {
  color: black;
  content: 'nlightenment';
  font-size: 20px;
}

<div class="preamble" id="zen-preamble" role="article">
  <h3>The Road to Enlightenment</h3>
  <p>Littering a dark and dreary road lay the past relics of browser-specific tags, incompatible <abbr title="Document Object Model">DOM</abbr>s, broken <abbr title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</abbr> support, and abandoned browsers.</p>
  <p>We must clear the mind of the past. Web enlightenment has been achieved thanks to the tireless efforts of folk like the <abbr title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr>, <abbr title="Web Standards Project">WaSP</abbr>, and the major browser creators.</p>
  <p>The CSS Zen Garden invites you to relax and meditate on the important lessons of the masters. Begin to see with clarity. Learn to use the time-honored techniques in new and invigorating fashion. Become one with the web.</p>
</div>

Answer 3

Take a look at that:

1. Red line splits picture into parts with monocolored font.
2. Blue horizontal lines show that text is not centered - first line simply has an indent.

h3 {
  font-family: Diplomata;
  font-size: 40px;
  font-weight: normal;
  width: 600px;
  
  text-indent: 1.35em;
  background: linear-gradient(to right, red 1.35em, black 1.35em);
  -webkit-background-clip: text;
  color: white; /* make text readable if clipping is not supported */
  -webkit-text-fill-color: transparent;
}

<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Diplomata" rel="stylesheet">
<h3>The Road to Enlightenment</h3>

Browser support: at least actual versions of Chrome, FF, Edge. Doesn't work in IE.