How to Adjust Line Spacing & Letter Spacing in CSS ?
Last Updated :
18 Jun, 2024
Adjusting line spacing and letter spacing in CSS enhances readability and aesthetics of text on web pages. Line spacing, controlled by line-height, sets space between text lines, while letter spacing, controlled by letter-spacing, adjusts space between characters, ensuring a visually balanced layout.
Below are the approaches to adjust line spacing and letter spacing in CSS:
Line-Height property
Line spacing can be adjusted using the line-height property in CSS. This property adds spaces of a certain length between lines, in addition to the default space provided by the browser.
Syntax:
line-height: normal| number| length| percentage| initial| inherit;
- Normal: This is the default line spacing, making text look balanced and easy to read.
- Initial: It sets the line height back to its default value.
- Number: You can set the line height using a number multiplied by the font size. This method helps avoid unexpected changes in spacing.
- Length: With this, you directly specify a fixed spacing between lines.
- Percentage: It sets the line height as a percentage of the current font size. This allows for relative adjustments based on the text size.
Example: In this example we demonstrates various line-height settings (normal, initial, number, length, percentage) applied to paragraphs within containers, showcasing different spacing behaviors relative to text size.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Line Height Properties</title>
<style>
.container {
color: white;
margin-bottom: 4px;
background-color: #28ad43;
border: 1px solid black;
font-size: 23px;
}
.normal {
line-height: normal;
}
.initial {
line-height: initial;
}
.num {
line-height: 1.5;
/* 1.5 times the font size */
}
.length {
line-height: 34px;
/* Fixed spacing between lines */
}
.percentage {
line-height: 250%;
/* 250% of the font size */
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<p>Normal (Default)</p>
<p class="normal">This is the default line spacing,
making text look balanced and easy to read.</p>
</div>
<div class="container">
<p>Initial</p>
<p class="initial">
It sets the line height back to its default value.
</p>
</div>
<div class="container">
<p>Number(1.5)</p>
<p class="num">
You can set the line height using a number
multiplied by the font size.
This method helps avoid
unexpected changes in spacing.
</p>
</div>
<div class="container">
<p>Length(34px)</p>
<p class="length">
With this, you directly specify a fixed
spacing between lines.
</p>
</div>
<div class="container">
<p>Percentage(250%)</p>
<p class="percentage">
It sets the line height as a percentage of
the current font size.
This allows for relative
adjustments based on the text size.
</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Output:
line-height property.Letter Spacing property
Letter spacing refers to the amount of space between characters in text. It gives you control over the spacing within words or text blocks on a webpage, allowing you to create a more compact or spread-out appearance.
Syntax:
letter-spacing: normal| length| initial| inherit;
Usually to adjust the letter spacing we use the 'length' property value. It can also have a negative value. A positive value of letter-spacing will cause the text to spread out and negative value will cause the characters in a text to overlap.
Example: In this example we demonstrates letter-spacing adjustments (-5px, 4px, 0.5em, 2rem) applied to text in different units and colors, centered with a large font size.
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport"
content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Letter Spacing Example</title>
<style>
body {
font-size: 50px;
font-weight: 600;
text-align: center;
}
.example-neg {
letter-spacing: -5px;
color: green;
}
.example {
letter-spacing: 4px;
color: green;
}
.example_em {
letter-spacing: 0.5em;
color: green;
}
.example_rem {
letter-spacing: 2rem;
color: green;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="example-neg">GeeksforGeeks</div>
<div class="example">GeeksforGeeks</div>
<div class="example_em">GeeksforGeeks</div>
<div class="example_rem">GeeksforGeeks</div>
</body>
</html>
Output:
letter-spacing property.
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