or does it have to be done through a stylesheet or style info in the head?

The php file I have cannot use an external stylesheet, or load the info in its head section because it doesn't have one.

There are links that have style info, but i want to apply the style directly if possible.

here is the info.

.shoutbox a, .shoutbox a:visited {
color: #6E7A8A;
font-size: 12px;
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;

.shoutbox a:hover {
color: #6E7A8A;
text-decoration: underline;

and here is the code for the link

PHP Code:

<a href=\"$website\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #6E7A8A;font-size: 12px;font-weight: bold;text-decoration: none;\">$name</a> 


so can i apply those 2 styles to that one link?

Yes you can, they are called "inline style rules"

You can though it's still likely better to use an external style sheet. Just add a class to the link.

<a class="shoutbox" href...

and then style the class.

a.shoutbox {}
a.shoutbox:visited {}
a.shoutbox:hover {}

If you want to use an inline style it will look like:

<a style="color:#6e7a8a; font-size:12px; etc" ...

I'm not sure if the visited or hover will work inline. I've never attempted to try it. Adding the class and then styling the class is much easier.