font-size

The font-size CSS property sets the size of the font. Changing the font size also updates the sizes of the font size-relative units, such as em , ex , and so forth.

Try it

Syntax

/* values */ font-size: xx-small; font-size: x-small; font-size: small; font-size: medium; font-size: large; font-size: x-large; font-size: xx-large; font-size: xxx-large; /* values */ font-size: smaller; font-size: larger; /* values */ font-size: 12px; font-size: 0.8em; /* values */ font-size: 80%; /* math value */ font-size: math; /* Global values */ font-size: inherit; font-size: initial; font-size: revert; font-size: revert-layer; font-size: unset; 

The font-size property is specified in one of the following ways:

• As one of the absolute-size, relative-size or math keywords
• As a or a , relative to the element’s font size.

Values

Absolute-size keywords, based on the user’s default font size (which is medium ).

Relative-size keywords. The font will be larger or smaller relative to the parent element’s font size, roughly by the ratio used to separate the absolute-size keywords above.

For font-relative units that are root-based (such as rem ), the font size is relative to the size of the font used by the (root) element.

Note: To maximize accessibility, it is generally best to use values that are relative to the user’s default font size.

• math Experimental Special mathematical scaling rules must be applied when determining the computed value of the font-size property.

Description

There are several ways to specify the font size, including keywords or numerical values for pixels or ems. Choose the appropriate method based on the needs of the particular web page.

Keywords

Pixels

Setting the font size in pixel values ( px ) is a good choice when you need pixel accuracy. A px value is static. This is an OS-independent and cross-browser way of literally telling the browsers to render the letters at exactly the number of pixels in height that you specified. The results may vary slightly across browsers, as they may use different algorithms to achieve a similar effect.

Font sizing settings can also be used in combination. For example, if a parent element is set to 16px and its child element is set to larger , the child element displays larger than the parent element on the page.

Note: Defining font sizes in px is not accessible, because the user cannot change the font size in some browsers. For example, users with limited vision may wish to set the font size much larger than the size chosen by a web designer. Avoid using them for font sizes if you wish to create an inclusive design.

Ems

Using an em value creates a dynamic or computed font size (historically the em unit was derived from the width of a capital «M» in a given typeface.). The numeric value acts as a multiplier of the font-size property of the element on which it is used. Consider this example:

In this case, the font size of

elements will be double the computed font-size inherited by

elements. By extension, a font-size of 1em equals the computed font-size of the element on which it is used.

If a font-size has not been set on any of the

‘s ancestors, then 1em will equal the default browser font-size , which is usually 16px . So, by default 1em is equivalent to 16px , and 2em is equivalent to 32px . If you were to set a font-size of 20px on the element say, then 1em on the

elements would instead be equivalent to 20px , and 2em would be equivalent to 40px .

In order to calculate the em equivalent for any pixel value required, you can use this formula:

em = desired element pixel value / parent element font-size in pixels

For example, suppose the font-size of the of the page is set to 16px . If the font-size you want is 12px , then you should specify 0.75em (because 12/16 = 0.75). Similarly, if you want a font size of 10px , then specify 0.625em (10/16 = 0.625); for 22px , specify 1.375em (22/16).

The em is a very useful unit in CSS since it automatically adapts its length relative to the font that the reader chooses to use.

One important fact to keep in mind: em values compound. Take the following HTML and CSS:

html  font-size: 100%; > span  font-size: 1.6em; > 

div> span>Outer span>innerspan> outerspan> div> 

Assuming that the browser’s default font-size is 16px, the words «outer» would be rendered at 25.6px, but the word «inner» would be rendered at 40.96px. This is because the inner ‘s font-size is 1.6em which is relative to its parent’s font-size , which is in turn relative to its parent’s font-size . This is often called compounding.

Rems

rem values were invented in order to sidestep the compounding problem. rem values are relative to the root html element, not the parent element. In other words, it lets you specify a font size in a relative fashion without being affected by the size of the parent, thereby eliminating compounding.

The CSS below is nearly identical to the previous example. The only exception is that the unit has been changed to rem .

html  font-size: 100%; > span  font-size: 1.6rem; > 

Then we apply this CSS to the same HTML, which looks like this:

span>Outer span>innerspan> outerspan> 

In this example, the words «outer inner outer» are all displayed at 25.6px (assuming that the browser’s font-size has been left at the default value of 16px).

Ex

Like the em unit, an element’s font-size set using the ex unit is computed or dynamic. It behaves in exactly the same way, except that when setting the font-size property using ex units, the font-size equals the x-height of the first available font used on the page. The number value multiplies the element’s inherited font-size and the font-size compounds relatively.

See the W3C Editor’s Draft for a more detailed description of font-relative length units such as ex .

Formal definition

Initial value	medium
Applies to	all elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line .
Inherited	yes
Percentages	refer to the parent element’s font size
Computed value	as specified, but with relative lengths converted into absolute lengths
Animation type	a length

Formal syntax

Источник

HTML Font Size – How to Change Text Size with an HTML Tag

Joel Olawanle

When you add text to your HTML file with an HTML tag, you won’t always want the text to remain the default size. You’ll want to be able to adjust how the text displays in the browser.

In this article, you will learn how to change the text size with an HTML tag.

Before you proceed, it is essential to know that there is only one way we can do this: through CSS’s font-size property. We can use the font-size property through inline, internal, or external styling.

In the past, we could adjust text size within our HTML tag without using CSS. But that was before HTML5. Then we added text using the tag, which can take in an attribute of size as seen below:

This size attribute can take in value from 1-7 in which the text size increases from 1 to 7. But like I said, this has long been depreciated, and most people don’t even know it existed.

In case you are in a rush to see how you can change the size of your text, then here it is:

// Using inline CSS 
Hello World!
 // Using internal/external CSS selector

Suppose you are not in a rush. Let’s briefly dive right in.

How to Change Text Size With Inline CSS

Inline CSS allows you to apply styles to specific HTML elements. This means we are putting CSS into an HTML tag directly. We use the style attribute, which now holds all our styling.

We use the font-size property alongside our value to change the text size using inline CSS. This value can use any of your preferred CSS units such as em, px, rem, and so on.

 
Hello World!
 
Any text whose font we want to change
 

A perfect syntax would be:

How to Change Text Size With Internal or External CSS

The approach you use to change text size in internal and external CSS styling is similar, since you use a selector. The general syntax for this is:

The selector can either be our HTML tag or maybe a class or an ID. For example:

// HTML 
Any text whose font we want to change
 // CSS p

// HTML 
Any text whose font we want to change
 // CSS .my-paragraph

Wrapping Up

In this article, you learned how to change the font/text size of an HTML element using CSS. You also saw how developers did it before the introduction of HTML5.

Also, keep in mind that it’s always better to style your HTML elements using internal or external styling, as it offers a lot of flexibility compared to inline styling.

For example, you can make use of one CSS class for all your p tags rather than having to add inline styles to all your p tag elements.

Using inline styles is not considered best practice because it results in a lot of repetition – you cannot reuse the styles elsewhere. To learn more, you can read my article on Inline Style in HTML.

I hope this tutorial gives you the knowledge to change the size of your HTML text so you can make it look better.

Источник

HTML Font Size – How to Change Text Size Using Inline CSS Style

Kolade Chris

In HTML, the font you choose will play a major role in the look and feel of your web pages.

You get to pick the font’s color, weight, size, and so on. And all these features make your websites and apps look better and more presentable to the user.

With the font-size property in CSS, you can change how big or small the text is on the web page. You can use this property in any type of CSS you are writing – external, internal, or inline.

In this article, I will show you how to change the size of the text with the font-size property in inline CSS.

What is inline CSS?

Inline CSS is one of the three different ways you can use to style any HTML element.

Instead of targeting the element with a class or id attribute, or the element itself as the selector and styling it with that, you put all the CSS styles in the opening tag.

In addition, you have to make sure all the properties and values of your stylings are inside the style attribute. This style attribute is one of the numerous attributes accepted by all HTML tags.

In the example below, I change the background color of the text to crimson, the text color to #f1f1f1 (light-grey), and the font-weight to bold with inline CSS.

By the way, my browser is zoomed-in to a level of 400% which is why everything appears so big. I didn’t apply any additional styles to accomplish that 🙂

How to Change Text Size Using Inline CSS

To change the size of your text with inline CSS, you have to do it with the style attribute. You type in the font-size property, and then assign it a value.

There are built-in values such as large , larger , medium , small , x-large , and so on:

In the code snippet below, I change the size of the “Hello Campers…” text to x-large, one of the built-in values of the font-size property.

You can also set the value of the font-size property using a number with any unit such as pixels (px), rem, or em.

It’s better to go with numbered values because they give you more freedom to pick any font size you want.

In the code snippet below, I changed the size of the text to 30px with inline CSS:

Conclusion

In this article, you learned how to change text size with inline CSS and the font-size property. You also saw how you can assign values to the font-size property.

Just a heads up, though: inline CSS is great for styling, but you should not rely heavily on it as it makes your HTML hard to read, especially if you are working in a team. You don’t want to be the only one who will be able to read your own code.

Be aware that it also overrides any styling set with internal or external styling. You should use external style or internal style instead, as they make your HTML and CSS codes separate, which is better for readability.

While assigning values to the font-size property, it is better to assign the values in rem units instead of px , for example. This is because when you use rem , the browser will be able to make font size adjustments as the user zooms in or out, which won’t happen when you use px .

Thank you for reading, and keep coding.

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