Font Styles

The CSS properties in the table below can be used to define all manner of font stylings on your web page text. These properties may be applied to all HTML elements used in the document body (except the script element) which includes the following:

Property Name	Some Possible Values	What It Does
font-family	(Any font name)	Sets the text typeface
font-size	15px | 12pt | 0.5em	Sets the text size
font-weight	bold | normal	Set bold typeface?
font-style	italic | normal	Set italics typeface?
background	(Any color) | url('example.jpg')	Sets background
color	(Any color)	Sets the text color
line-height	17px | normal	Sets line spacing

NOTES:

• Pixels (px) ~ This sets the font-size or line-height in pixels. The syntax is any number followed by px. Example: font-size: 15px; (a nice size for a font). Use pixels for measurements when you want to closely control the font sizes on your web page. (More about pixels...)
• Points (pt) ~ This sets a font-size or line-height in points. The syntax is any number followed by pt. Example: font-size: 12pt; (a nice size for a font). 1 point is the equivalent of 1/72nd of an inch. Measurements in points are typically used for printed material and hence some web authors feel more comfortable with this because they can 'relate' to it better than using pixels or ems. Be advised, however, that Macintosh and Windows display points measurements measurements differently (Macintosh displays smaller).
• Ems (em) ~ This sets a font-size relative to the font-size of the parent element. The syntax is any number followed by em. Example: font-size: 0.5em; (displays font at half the size of the parent element font).
  
  A parent element is an element that contains another element. For example, in the following, the div element is the parent of the span element:
  
  
  
  <div><span style="font-size: 0.5em">This text will be displayed at half of font size of the parent DIV element.</span></div>
  
  
  
  The idea behind using em measurements is to use them throughout the web page so that all font sizes are relative to one another. This is ultimately predicated upon the base font size which is left to be defined by the user (by setting options in his web browser). If the user goes with the default browser settings then the base font size typically defaults to 3 (see font size). Hence em measurements are ideal for allowing the user define how big the font sizes should be. (Be advised that some users like really big text so this can produce some wacky results.)
• Normal ~ This value takes on various meanings according to the CSS property it's used in. These are described in the following:
  
  
  • font-weight: normal; - The text is not rendered in bold type face.
  • font-style: normal; - The text is not rendered in italics.
  • line-height: normal; - The line height is rendered at what would be reasonable for the font-size being currently applied.
• span (generic inline element) ~ The span element is a generic inline HTML element which will essentially replace the font element as you make the switch from formatting text with HTML to formatting text with CSS. It requires both start and end tags <span>...</span>, the latter of which does not force a line break in the visible text. In other words, it behaves just like the font element with the exception that it does not support any special attributes. You will primarily use it with core attributes such as id, class and style to apply CSS properties to the enclosed text.
  
  Here's an example of using the span element with the style attribute:
  
  
  
  <span style="font-family: arial;">Some text...</span>
  
  
  
  This is exactly the same as:
  
  
  
  <font face="arial">Some text...</font>
  
  
  
  However, the span element becomes much more robust when it's used with the class or id attribute in conjunction with an embedded or external style sheet.

Here's an example of an inline style applied to a paragraph tag using some of the CSS properties described in the table above:




OR...

The same thing could be declared as an embedded stylesheet in the document head:



...and in the document body, you would simply put this:



Both Example 1 and Example 2 will produce the following effect:

How now brown cow

*   *   *

Okay so we got the font thing down.

Now to exercise some real fine control over your web page layout, you'll want to know what CSS properties will set widths, heights, padding and margin...



MORE CSS PROPERTIES:

• Borders
• Backgrounds
• Position
• Float & Alignment
• Hyperlinks

SEE ALSO:

• How to Use CSS - An Overview
• Inline Styles
• Embedded Style Sheets
• External Style Sheets
• Class Selectors

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