Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

Chapter 6. Text Properties

Sure, a lot of web design involves picking the right colors and getting the coolest look for your pages, but when it comes right down to it, you probably spend more of your time worrying about where text will go and how it will look. Such concerns gave rise to HTML tags such as <FONT> and <CENTER>, which give you some measure of control over the appearance and placement of text.

Because text is so important, much of CSS tackles properties that affect it in one way or another. What is the difference between text and fonts? Simply, text is the content, and fonts are used to display that content. Using text properties, you can affect the position of text in relation to the rest of the line, superscript it, underline it, and change the capitalization. You can even simulate, to a limited degree, the use of the Tab key on a typewriter.

Indentation and Horizontal Alignment

Let’s start with a discussion of how you can affect the horizontal positioning of text within a line. Think of these basic actions as the same types of steps you might take to create a newsletter or write a report.

Indenting Text

Indenting the first line of a paragraph on a web page is one of the most sought after text-formatting effects. (Eliminating the blank line between paragraphs, which is discussed in Chapter 7, is a close second.) Some sites create the illusion of indented text by placing a small transparent image before the first letter in a paragraph, which shoves over the text. Other ...