The CSS Text Module Level 4 is a game-changer for web developers. It introduces new features and improvements to the way we style text on the web.
One of the key features of CSS Text Module Level 4 is the ability to use the `text-justify` property to specify how text should be justified. This can be set to `inter-word` to justify text by adding space between words, or `distribute` to justify text by distributing the space evenly.
With CSS Text Module Level 4, you can also use the `text-orientation` property to rotate text to a specific angle. This can be useful for creating unique and visually appealing effects.
CSS Text Styling
CSS text styling is a vital part of web development, allowing us to manipulate the look of text in various ways. CSS text styling helps us to add effects like underline, overline, or strike-through to texts using the text-decoration property.
There are many reasons why we use CSS text styling in web development. We can make certain areas we want to draw attention to stand out by styling text on our web pages.
Here are some common ways to style texts in CSS:
- Change Color: The default color of text in a webpage will be black. You can change this according to your webpage theme, using color property in CSS.
- Set Alignment: You can use text-align property in css to specify alignment (center, left, right) of text inside a container.
- Text Decoration: The text-decoration property in CSS can be used to add effects like underline, overline, or strike-through to texts.
- Shadow Effect: If you want to create a shadow around text in your webpage you can use text-shadow property in CSS.
- Change Font Style: The font-style property allows you to style the text as normal, italic, or oblique.
What Is Styling?
Styling text is all about making it visually appealing and attention-grabbing. You can change the color of text to match your webpage theme using the color property in CSS.
Text alignment is another way to style text, where you can specify alignment (center, left, right) of text inside a container using the text-align property. This can make a big difference in how your content is presented.
The text-decoration property can add effects like underline, overline, or strike-through to texts, which can help draw attention to specific areas of your webpage.
Styling fonts and text is a common part of web development, and it's essential to understand how to do it effectively.
Here are some common ways to style texts in CSS:
- Change Color: The default color of text in a webpage will be black.
- Set Alignment: You can use text-align property in css to specify alignment (center, left, right) of text inside a container.
- Text Decoration: The text-decoration property in CSS can be used to add effects like underline, overline, or strike-through to texts.
- Shadow Effect: If you want to create a shadow around text in your webpage you can use text-shadow property in CSS.
- Change Font Style: The font-style property allows you to style the text as normal, italic, or oblique.
Appendix D: Scripts
Typographic behavior varies by writing system, and scripts in Unicode 6.0 have different justification and spacing behaviors.
Scripts in Unicode 6.0 are categorized according to their justification and spacing behavior, and category descriptions are descriptive, not prescriptive.
Indic scripts like Devanagari and Gujarati, which have baseline connectors, are not considered cursive scripts and do admit gaps between typographic character units.
User agents should update this list as they update their Unicode support to handle cursive scripts in future versions of Unicode.
Privacy Considerations
As you style text with CSS, it's essential to consider the potential impact on user privacy. This specification leaks the user's installed hyphenation and line-breaking dictionaries.
This can be a concern because it reveals sensitive information about the user's system and preferences.
Text Alignment and Justification
Text alignment is a crucial aspect of CSS text, and it's used to set the horizontal alignment of text in an element. The text-align property has several values, including left, right, center, justify, initial, and inherit.
The text-align property can be used to align text to the left, right, or center of an element. For example, setting text-align to left will align the text to the left side of the element, while setting it to center will center the text horizontally.
The text-align property also has a shorthand version called text-align-last, which describes how the last line of a block or a line right before a forced line break is aligned. This property can take values such as auto, start, end, left, right, center, justify, or match-parent.
The justification method used when a line's alignment is set to justify is determined by the text-justify property. This property takes values such as auto, none, inter-word, inter-character, or ruby, and can be used to disable or enable justification opportunities at word separators or between Bopomofo characters.
Here's a summary of the text alignment and justification properties:
These properties provide a range of options for aligning and justifying text, and can be used to create a variety of visual effects in web design.
Alignment
Alignment is a crucial aspect of text alignment and justification. It determines how text is distributed within a line box.
The text-align property, a shorthand property, sets the text-align-all and text-align-last properties, and describes how the inline-level content of a block is aligned along the inline axis if the content does not completely fill the line box.
Values other than justify-all or match-parent are assigned to text-align-all and reset text-align-last to auto. Justify-all sets both text-align-all and text-align-last to match-parent.
A block of text is a stack of line boxes. This property specifies how the inline-level boxes within each line box align with respect to the start and end sides of the line box.
Here are the possible values for the text-align property:
- Left: This aligns the text to the left and is the default value.
- Right: This aligns the text to the right.
- Center: This aligns text to the center.
- Justify: This stretches the element's text to be an equal width on every line.
- Initial: This property represents the default value.
- Inherit: This inherits the property from its parent element.
The text-align-last property describes how the last line of a block or a line right before a forced line break is aligned. If auto is specified, content on the affected line is aligned per text-align-all unless text-align-all is set to justify, in which case it is start-aligned.
Bidirectionality and Boxes
A line box's start and end sides are determined by its inline base direction, which is distinct from the inline base direction of its containing block or bidi paragraph.
This inline base direction affects text-align-all, text-align-last, text-indent, and hanging-punctuation, but not the formatting or ordering of inline content.
The inline base direction of a line box is usually given by its containing block's computed direction, but there are exceptions.
If a containing block has unicode-bidi: plaintext, the line box's inline base direction is determined by the bidi paragraph it belongs to or the preceding line box.
Here are the possible scenarios for determining the inline base direction of a line box:
- Strong directionality in the bidi paragraph: the line box's inline base direction is that direction.
- No strong directionality: the line box's inline base direction is taken from the preceding line box or the containing block's direction property.
This means that even if a containing block has a RTL direction, an empty line box can still have an LTR base direction, as seen in the example where "Hello!" is typeset LTR despite being in an RTL block.
Text Decoration
Text decoration is a way to add extra flair to your text in CSS. You can use the text-decoration property to add effects like underline, overline, or strike-through.
The text-decoration property is a shorthand property for text-decoration-line, text-decoration-style, text-decoration-color, and text-decoration-thickness. This means you can set all these properties at once with a single line of code.
You can also use the text-decoration-line property to set different kinds of text decoration, like underlines, overlines, underline overlines, and line-through. For example, you can use text-decoration-line: underline to add a solid underline to your text.
Here are some common ways to style text with text decoration:
- Underline: text-decoration-line: underline
- Overline: text-decoration-line: overline
- Line-through: text-decoration-line: line-through
- Underline overline: text-decoration-line: underline overline
Decoration
Decoration is a crucial aspect of text styling in CSS. You can add a line (underline, strikethrough, overline) to your text using the text-decoration property.
The text-decoration property is a shorthand property that includes four sub-properties: text-decoration-line, text-decoration-style, text-decoration-color, and text-decoration-thickness. These sub-properties allow you to customize the decoration of your text.
The text-decoration-line property sets the kind of text decoration, such as underline, overline, or line-through. You can also use the text-decoration-style property to set the style of the decoration, including solid, wavy, dotted, dashed, or double.
The text-decoration-color property sets the color of the decoration, and the text-decoration-thickness property sets the thickness of the decoration line. You can use the auto keyword to set the thickness to the default value.
Here's a summary of the text-decoration properties:
You can use the text-decoration property to add a decoration to your text, such as an underline. For example:
```css
p {
text-decoration: underline;
}
```
This will add an underline to the text in the paragraph element. You can also use the text-decoration-line property to set the kind of decoration, such as:
```css
p {
text-decoration-line: overline;
}
```
This will add an overline to the text in the paragraph element.
SVG Motion Blur
SVG motion blur can create a sense of movement and energy in your text effects. It's a great way to add visual interest to your designs.
A demo of using SVG filters in CSS to create stunning text effects shows how motion blur can be used to achieve this. By applying a filter to an SVG element, you can create a blurred effect that gives the impression of movement.
Motion blur can be particularly effective when combined with other text decoration techniques, such as gradient overlays or drop shadows. This can add depth and dimension to your text, making it stand out even more.
Using SVG filters in CSS allows for a high degree of control over the motion blur effect, making it easy to customize and fine-tune to your needs.
Overflow-wrap
Overflow-wrap is a property that allows you to control how text wraps around within a line. It's particularly useful when you have long strings of text that are too long to fit within the line box.
The overflow-wrap property can take three values: normal, break-word, and anywhere. The normal value means that the UA will not break at otherwise disallowed points within a line to prevent overflow. The break-word value, on the other hand, allows the UA to break at otherwise disallowed points within a line to prevent overflow.
Here's a breakdown of the three values:
- Normal: The UA will not break at otherwise disallowed points within a line to prevent overflow.
- Break-word: The UA can break at otherwise disallowed points within a line to prevent overflow.
- Anywhere: This value is not explicitly mentioned in the article sections, but it's likely similar to break-word.
If you're using word-break: auto-phrase, the restrictions introduced by this property are relaxed if there are no otherwise-acceptable break points in the line. This means that the UA will fall back to the same soft wrap opportunities as normal within that phrase if suppressing soft wrap opportunities would cause the phrase to overflow.
Text Decoration
Text Decoration is a crucial aspect of styling text in CSS. It's used to add visual interest and emphasis to your content. You can use it to draw attention to important information or to create a specific mood or atmosphere.
The hyphens property controls whether hyphenation is allowed to create more soft wrap opportunities within a line of text. It has three possible values: none, manual, and auto. The initial value is manual, meaning that hyphenation is disabled by default.
Hyphenation is the process of splitting words at syllabic or morphemic boundaries to improve the layout of paragraphs. It's a rendering effect only, meaning it doesn't affect the underlying document content or text selection or searching. However, it can alter the spelling of a word in some cases.
The hyphens property is used to control hyphenation opportunities in CSS. It's a powerful tool that allows you to customize the way text is laid out on a page. You can use it to create a more natural flow of text or to improve the readability of your content.
The hyphens property is inherited by child elements, meaning that the value set on a parent element will be applied to all its child elements unless overridden. This makes it easy to apply hyphenation settings to a large block of text.
Here are the possible values for the hyphens property:
The hyphens property is a key part of the CSS Text Level 3 specification. It's a complex property that requires a good understanding of how hyphenation works in different languages and contexts.
The hyphenate-character property specifies the string that is shown between parts of hyphenated words. The initial value is auto, meaning that the user agent will choose a hyphenation character by default. You can override this value by specifying a custom string.
The hyphenate-character property is a powerful tool that allows you to customize the appearance of hyphenated words. You can use it to create a consistent look and feel across your website or application.
The hyphenate-limit-chars property specifies the minimum number of characters in a hyphenated word. If the word doesn't meet the required minimum number of characters, it won't be hyphenated. The initial value is auto, meaning that the user agent will choose a minimum number of characters by default.
The hyphenate-limit-chars property is used to control the minimum number of characters in a hyphenated word. It's a useful tool for creating a consistent look and feel across your website or application.
The hyphenate-limit-zone property specifies the maximum amount of unfilled space that may be left in the line box before hyphenation is triggered. The initial value is 0, meaning that hyphenation will be triggered immediately if there's not enough space in the line box.
The hyphenate-limit-zone property is used to control the amount of unfilled space in the line box before hyphenation is triggered. It's a useful tool for creating a consistent look and feel across your website or application.
The hyphenate-limit-lines property specifies the maximum number of successive hyphenated lines in an element. The initial value is no-limit, meaning that there's no limit on the number of successive hyphenated lines.
The hyphenate-limit-last property specifies the hyphenation behavior at the end of elements, columns, pages, and spreads. The initial value is none, meaning that hyphenation will not be triggered at the end of elements, columns, pages, and spreads.
The hyphenate-limit-last property is used to control the hyphenation behavior at the end of elements, columns, pages, and spreads. It's a useful tool for creating a consistent look and feel across your website or application.
CJK Punctuation
CJK punctuation is a unique beast, and understanding its quirks can make a big difference in your text decoration game. CJK, or Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, punctuation has its own set of rules for spacing and trimming, which can be tricky to navigate.
For example, the text-spacing-trim property allows you to control spacing around CJK punctuation characters on the same line. This is especially useful for managing the formatting of existing Chinese and Japanese content, where trimming both sides of the line is not always the best approach.
Trim-both is a specific value of text-spacing-trim that trims both sides of the line, but it's not always the best choice. In fact, the auto value of text-spacing-trim is actually user-agent specific and platform-dependent, which can be weird for authors to choose.
To give you a better idea of how text-spacing-trim works, here's a breakdown of the different values:
As you can see, each value of text-spacing-trim has its own set of rules for trimming and spacing. Understanding these rules can help you create more beautiful and effective text decoration.
Character Classes
Character Classes are a fundamental concept in text decoration, and understanding them can make a big difference in how your text looks. They help determine how symbols and punctuation are treated in terms of spacing and justification.
Text-autospace, a CSS property, relies on character-class-based rules to control spacing between adjacent characters on the same line. This means that certain characters are treated as special cases when it comes to spacing.
In terms of character classes, Unicode Symbols (S*) and Punctuation (P*) classes are generally treated the same as typographic letter units of the same script. However, there may be additional rules controlling the justification of symbols and punctuation, which the User Agent (UA) may reassign or prioritize.
Here are some specific character classes to keep in mind:
- CJK Strokes (U+31C0 to U+31EF)
- Katakana Phonetic Extensions (U+31F0 to U+31FF)
- Characters in the range of U+3041 to U+30FF, except those that belong to Unicode Punctuation [P*] general category
- Characters with the Han script property
These character classes can affect how text is spaced and justified, especially when it comes to East Asian languages. For example, fullwidth colon punctuation and fullwidth dot punctuation can be classified as either fullwidth closing punctuation or fullwidth middle dot punctuation, depending on the language and writing mode.
Order of Operations
Text decoration can be a complex process, but understanding the order of operations can help simplify it.
First, white space trimming occurs, which is controlled by the white-space-trim property.
This is followed by pre-wrapping, a crucial step in text processing.
Next, expanding between words happens, influenced by the word-space-transform property and text transformation.
Text combination and orientation also play a role in determining the final text layout.
However, text wrapping and justification can affect glyph selection and/or text wrapping, requiring looping back into the text wrapping step.
After that, text alignment and text group alignment take place.
Here's a simplified breakdown of the text processing order of operations:
- White Space Trimming: the white-space-trim property
- White Space Processing Part I (pre-wrapping)
- Expanding Between Words: the word-space-transform property and text transformation
- Text Combination
- Text Orientation
- Text Wrapping
- Justification (which may affect glyph selection and/or text wrapping)
- Text Alignment
- Text Group Alignment
Appendix E: Characters
In CSS typesetting, Unicode defines four code point-level properties that are referenced in CSS typesetting. These properties are crucial in determining the behavior of text decoration.
Unicode defines properties for individual code points, but sometimes it's necessary to determine the properties of a typographic character unit. This is where things get interesting.
The properties of a typographic character unit are given by the base character of its first grapheme cluster – except in two special cases. Grapheme clusters formed with an Enclosing Mark (Me) of the Common script are considered to be Other Symbols (So) in the Common script.
Here's a breakdown of the two special cases:
- Grapheme clusters formed with an Enclosing Mark (Me) of the Common script are considered to be Other Symbols (So) in the Common script. They are assumed to have the same Unicode properties as the replacement character (U+FFFD).
- Grapheme clusters formed with a Space Separator (Zs) as the base are considered to be Modifier Symbols (Sk). They take their East Asian Width property from the base, but their other properties come from the first combining character in the sequence.
These special cases highlight the importance of considering the properties of typographic character units in CSS typesetting. By understanding these properties, you can create more accurate and effective text decoration rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CSS in text?
CSS in text refers to the styles that control the appearance and layout of text elements on a webpage. It includes properties for formatting text in various ways, such as color, alignment, and spacing.
How to write text CSS?
To write text with CSS, use the ::before or ::after pseudo-elements in your CSS rules. This allows you to add content before or after an element, such as a heading or paragraph.
How to set text style in CSS?
To set text style in CSS, surround the text with a SPAN element and add the font-family style within the element's attribute. This simple step allows you to change the font of specific text on your webpage.
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