CSS Text
text formatting
This text is styled with some of the text formatting properties. The heading uses the text-align, text-transform, and color properties. The paragraph is indented, aligned, and the space between characters is specified. The underline is removed from this colored "Try it Yourself" link.
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Text Color
The color property is used to set the color of the text.
The color is specified by:
- a color name - like "red"
- a HEX value - like "#ff0000"
- an RGB value - like "rgb(255,0,0)"
Look at CSS Color Values for a complete list of possible color values.
The default text color for a page is defined in the body selector.
Note: For W3C compliant CSS: If you define the color property, you must also define the background-color.
Text Alignment
The text-align property is used to set the horizontal alignment of a text.
A text can be left or right aligned, centered, or justified.
The following example shows center aligned, and left and right aligned text (left alignment is default if text direction is left-to-right, and right alignment is default if text direction is right-to-left):
When the text-align property is set to "justify", each line is
stretched so that every line has equal width, and the left and right margins are
straight (like in magazines and newspapers):
Text Decoration
The text-decoration property is used to set or remove decorations from text.
The value text-decoration: none; is often used to remove underlines from links:
The other text-decoration values are used to decorate text:
Example
h1 {
text-decoration: overline;
}
h2 {
text-decoration: line-through;
}
h3 {
text-decoration: underline;
}
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Note: It is not recommended to underline text that is not a link, as this often confuses the reader.
Text Transformation
The text-transform property is used to specify uppercase and lowercase letters in a text.
It can be used to turn everything into uppercase or lowercase letters, or capitalize the first letter of each word:
Example
p.uppercase {
text-transform: uppercase;
}
p.lowercase {
text-transform: lowercase;
}
p.capitalize {
text-transform: capitalize;
}
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Text Indentation
The text-indent property is used to specify the indentation of the first line of a text:
Letter Spacing
The letter-spacing property is used to specify the space between the characters in a text.
The following example demonstrates how to increase or decrease the space between characters:
Line Height
The line-height property is used to specify the space between lines:
Text Direction
The direction property is used to change the text direction of an element:
Word Spacing
The word-spacing property is used to specify the space between
the words in a text.
The following example demonstrates how to increase or decrease the space between words:
Text Shadow
The text-shadow property adds shadow to text.
The following example specifies the position of the horizontal shadow (3px), the position of the vertical shadow (2px) and the color of the shadow (red):
More Examples
Disable text wrapping inside an element
This example demonstrates how to disable text wrapping inside an element.
Vertical alignment of an image
This example demonstrates how to set the vertical align of an image in a text.
Tip: Go to our CSS Fonts chapter to learn about how to change fonts, text size and the style of a text.
Test Yourself with Exercises!
All CSS Text Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| color | Sets the color of text |
| direction | Specifies the text direction/writing direction |
| letter-spacing | Increases or decreases the space between characters in a text |
| line-height | Sets the line height |
| text-align | Specifies the horizontal alignment of text |
| text-decoration | Specifies the decoration added to text |
| text-indent | Specifies the indentation of the first line in a text-block |
| text-shadow | Specifies the shadow effect added to text |
| text-transform | Controls the capitalization of text |
| text-overflow | Specifies how overflowed content that is not displayed should be signaled to the user |
| unicode-bidi | Used together with the direction property to set or return whether the text should be overridden to support multiple languages in the same document |
| vertical-align | Sets the vertical alignment of an element |
| white-space | Specifies how white-space inside an element is handled |
| word-spacing | Increases or decreases the space between words in a text |
