CSS Font

CSS font properties are used to adjust the appearance of the text in an HTML document. Using the CSS fonts properties, we can customize the font family, size, weight, style, and color of text.

body {
  font-family: Helvetica;
  font-size: 16px;
}

Here,

  • font-family: Helvetica - sets the font family of text to Helvetica within the body
  • font-size: 16px - sets the font size of the text to 16px within the body

Basic Font Properties

In CSS, we have the following seven important font properties that are used to change different attributes of the text.

  • font-family: defines the font applied to the text
  • font-size: sets the size of the font
  • font-weight: sets the thickness i.e increase the boldness or lightness of the font
  • font-style: sets the font to italic or oblique
  • font-variant: changes the font to small-caps
  • font-stretch: expands or narrows the text
  • line-height: sets the distance between lines of the text

We will learn about each of them in detail.


CSS Font Family

CSS font-family property is used to set the font face of the text on the webpage. For example,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
        <title>CSS Font Family</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <h1>CSS Font Family</h1>
    </body>
</html>
h1 {
    font-family: Courier, monospace;
}

Browser Output

CSS Font Family Description Image

In the above example, we have set the font family of the h1 element to the Courier, monospace. The browser tries to render the text of h1 in Courier font, and if not available, monospace is rendered.

Note: It is recommended to list the family name in quotation marks when it consists of multiple words. For example, "Times New Roman".


CSS Font Size

CSS font-size property sets the size or height of the text. The values of font-size can be expressed by keywords, length units (px, em, rem, etc), or percentages. For example,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
        <title>CSS Font Size</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <h1>Font size: 42px</h1>
        <p>Font size: 24px</p>
    </body>
</html>
h1 {
    /*sets the font size of h1 element to 36px */
    font-size: 42px;
}

p {
    /* sets the font size to p element to 24px */
    font-size: 24px;
}

Browser Output

CSS Font Size Description Image

CSS Font Style

CSS font-style property is used to style a font either with a normal, italic, or oblique face. For example,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
        <title>Font Style</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <h1 class="normal">Normal text</h1>
        <h1 class="italic">Italic text</h1>
        <h1 class="oblique">Oblique text</h1>
    </body>
</html>
h1.normal {
	font-style: normal;
}

h1.italic {
	font-style: italic;
}

h1.oblique {
	font-style: oblique;
}

Browser Output

CSS Font Style Description Image

The possible values for CSS font-style are as follows:

  • normal: text is shown normally
  • italic: text is shown in italics
  • oblique: text is leaned which is very similar to italic

CSS Font Stretch

CSS font-stretch property is used to widen or narrow the text by allowing us to select a normal, expanded or condensed face from the font's family. For example,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
        <title>CSS Font Stretch</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <h1 class="condensed">Hello World</h1>
        <h1 class="expanded">Hello World</h1>
    </body>
</html>
body {
	font-family: Arial;
}
.condensed {
	font-stretch: condensed;
}

.expanded {
	font-stretch: expanded;
}

Browser Output

CSS Font Stretch Description Image

Note: This property has no effect if the selected font family does not offer condensed or expanded faces.


CSS Font Variant

CSS font-variant is used to set the text to small-caps (uppercase letters but in smaller font size). For example,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
        <title>CSS Font Variant</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <h1 class="normal">This is the normal text.</h1>
        <h1 class="small-caps">This is the small caps</h1>
    </body>
</html>
.normal {
    font-variant: normal;
}

.small-caps {
    font-variant: small-caps;
}

Browser Output

CSS Font Variant Description Image

The possible values for CSS font-variant style are as follows:

  • normal: default value and makes no change to the font
  • small-caps: displays text in small uppercase letters
  • initial: sets the text to initial value which is normal by default
  • inherit: sets the text to value as of its parent element

CSS Font Weight

CSS font-weight determines the lightness or boldness of the text. It can be specified by using numeric or pre-defined keywords such as bold, lighter, etc. For example,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
        <title>CSS Font Weight</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <p>Normal Text</p>
        <p class="bold">Bold Text</p>
    </body>
</html>
p.bold {
    font-weight: bold;
}

Browser Output

CSS Font Weight Description Image

The weight available depends on the font-family that is currently set. If the specified font-family does not offer the requested font weight, the browser will simulate the lightness or boldness that approximates the requested weight.


CSS Line Height

CSS line-height property is used to set the height of the line box. It allows setting the height of the line independently from the font size. For example,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
        <title>CSS Line Height</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <p class="normal-value">
            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum
            a neque et turpis tristique mollis quis imperdiet purus. Nunc
            molestie orci eu augue consequat, pellentesque faucibus magna
            pretium. Duis at viverra ligula. Nullam aliquam, leo ut tristique
            pretium, ligula arcu cursus turpis, nec rhoncus sapien urna vitae
            lacus. Fusce vel consectetur diam.
        </p>

        <p class="numeric-value">
            Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum
            a neque et turpis tristique mollis quis imperdiet purus. Nunc
            molestie orci eu augue consequat, pellentesque faucibus magna
            pretium. Duis at viverra ligula. Nullam aliquam, leo ut tristique
            pretium, ligula arcu cursus turpis, nec rhoncus sapien urna vitae
            lacus. Fusce vel consectetur diam.
        </p>
    </body>
</html>
.normal-value {
    /* specifies the normal line height */
    line-height: normal;
}

.numeric-value {
    line-height: 1.5; /* sets value 1.5 times the current font size : 16px x 1.5 = 24px */
}

Browser Output

CSS Line Height Description Image

The possible values for CSS line-height are as follows:

Line Height Values Description
normal default value, specifies the normal line height
number specifies the number that is multiplied with the current font size to set the line height
length sets the line height in px, pt, cm, etc
% sets the line height in percent of the current font size
initial sets the value to default value i.e normal
inherit inherits the property value from its parent element

CSS Font ShortHand Property

The CSS font shorthand property is used to set multiple font related properties in a single declaration. This property helps to shorten the code by specifying all the font properties in one place.

The font property has the following syntax:

font: font-style font-variant font-weight font-size/line-height font-family;

The font shorthand property needs at least font-size and font-family values to work.

The order of the values provided in the above shorthand font property must follow the specified ordering. Default values are used if other values are omitted.

Let's see an example,

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
        <title>CSS Font Shorthand</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <h1>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</h1>
    </body>
</html>
h1 {
    font: italic small-caps bold 24px/1.2 "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial,
        sans-serif;
}

/* The above code is equivalent to
    h1 {
      font-style: italic;
      font-variant: small-caps;
      font-weight: bold;
      font-size: 24px;
      line-height: 1.2;
      font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
    }
    */

Browser Output

CSS Font Shorthand Description Image

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