Text Alignment and Spacing
CSS includes a great many properties that let you control how text appears on a web page. If you ever wondered how to indent paragraphs, space out lines, or center a title, these are the tools you need.
Table 6-2 has the details on all your alignment options.
Table 6-2. Alignment and spacing properties.
Property | Description | Common Values | Can Be Inherited? |
|---|---|---|---|
text-align | Lines up text on one or both edges of a page. | left, right, center, justify. | Yes |
text-indent | Indents the first line of text (typically in a paragraph). | A pixel value (indicating the amount to indent) or percentage of the width of the containing element. | Yes |
margin | Sets the spacing around the outside of a block element (HTML Elements for Basic Text). To change the margin on just one side, use the similar properties marginbottom, margin-left, marginright, and margin-top. | A pixel value or percentage indicating the amount of space to add around the element. | No |
padding | Sets the spacing around the inside of a block element. Has the same effect as “margin,” unless you have an element with a border or background color. | A pixel value or percentage indicating the amount of space to add around the element. | No |
wordspacing | Sets the space between words | A pixel value or percentage. | Yes |
letterspacing | Sets the space between letters. | A pixel value or percentage. | Yes |
line-height | Sets the space between lines. | A pixel value or percentage. You can also use a multiple (for example, use 2 for double-spacing). | Yes |
white-space | Tells the browser how to ... |