Skip to Content
HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®
book

HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

by Andy Harris, Chris McCulloh
May 2008
Beginner
960 pages
20h 4m
English
For Dummies
Content preview from HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Styling Text

In This Chapter

  • Introducing fonts and typefaces

  • Specifying the font family

  • Determining font size

  • Understanding CSS measurement units

  • Managing other font characteristics

  • Using the font rule to simplify font styles

Web pages are still primarily a text-based media, so you'll want to add some formatting capabilities. XHTML doesn't do any meaningful text formatting on its own, but CSS adds a wide range of tools for choosing the typeface, font size, decorations, alignment, and much more. In this chapter, you discover how to manage text the CSS way.

Tip

A bit of semantics is in order. The thing most people dub a font is more properly a typeface. Technically, a font is a particular typeface at a particular size with a specific set of decorations (underlining, italic, and so on). The distinction is honestly not that important in a digital setting. You don't explicitly set the font in CSS. You determine the font family (which is essentially a typeface), and then you modify its characteristics (creating a font as purists would think of it). Still, when I'm referring to the thing most people call a font (a file in the operating system that describes the appearance of an alphabet set), I use the familiar term font.

Setting the Font Family

To assign a font family to part of your page, use some new CSS. Figure 2-1 illustrates a page with the heading set to Comic Sans MS.

If this page is viewed on a Windows machine, it generally displays the font correctly because Comic Sans MS is installed ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

HTML, XHTML, & CSS All-in-One For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

HTML, XHTML, & CSS All-in-One For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Andy Harris

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470186275Purchase book