active??? css pseudo-class

ok i've been working on my site, and with css pseudo-class

a.browse:link
a.browse:visited
a.browse:hover
a.browse:active

here's how i set my code on css... realising that hover must come after link and visited and active after hover!

a.browse:link, a.browse:visited{blah blah blah}
a.browse:hover{blah}
a.browse:active{blah}

i don't really see the active effects, which makes me wonder what does it really do? or when does it happen?

does active occur between the clicking and the starting of the next page reload?

correct me if im wrong, but active links are exactly what you said just -- the 'active' effects happen and i think you can see these effects if you tab through the links?
or if you use a browser that caches the updated pages (such as http://opera.com/ ), then you can see the 'active' actions if you click 'back' on your browser and see it ..

this is untested / unconfirmed so i apologise if it is incorrect but it may be useful to you