CSS

LINE-HEIGHT

What is leading?

Back in the good old days type was set by hand using printing presses.

Printed material was created by setting out letters in rows. Each letter was created on an individual block.

Leading, or lead strips were added between the lines of letters when additional vertical space was required.

In CSS, line-height is used to control the vertical space between lines.

However,the terms leading and half-leading are still used in association with CSS line-height.

So how do you apply line-height?

By default, browsers use between 1.0 - 1.2 line-height. This is referred to as an initial value.

You can override this default lineheight using the CSS line-height property.
p { line-height: 140%; }

Line-height can be specified with five different types of unit.

1. Line-height can be specified as normal.

body { line-height: normal; }

2. Line-height can be specified as inherit.

p { line-height: inherit; }

3. Line-height can be specified using a percentage value.

p { line-height: 120%; }

4. Line-height can be specified using a length value (using px, em etc).

p { line-height: 20px; }

5. Line-height can also be specified using a number value (a unit-less value).

p { line-height: 1.2; }

Shorthand line-height

These five line-height values can also be specified using the font shorthand property.

The line-height value is written in conjunction with the font-size value. The values are separated by a slash: <font-size>/<line-height> For example

Normal value

body { font: 100%/normal arial, helvetica, sans-serif; }

Percentage value

body { font: 100%/120% arial, helvetica, sans-serif; }

Length value

body { font: 100%/20px arial, helvetica, sans-serif; }

Number value

body { font: 100%/1.2 arial, helvetica, sans-serif; }

Calculating line-height

Some CSS properties are inherited (passed down to descendant elements).

This is designed to make it easier for authors - so they do not have to specify properties for all descendants.

EG. the color property is inherited. If a color is applied to the body element, it will be passed down to all other elements on the page.

For line-height, inheritance is a little more complicated...

To see the various line-height options in action, we will use the following HTML code:
<h1> consect etuer adipi scing eli </h1> <p> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet co </p> <div id="footer"> Duis autem vel eum iriure dol </div>

This produces the following document tree:

body Parent element

h1

div#footer

Descendant elements

We will also use the following CSS

(pixels used for font-size to simplify - though not recommended!):

body { font-size: 16px; line-height: XXX; } h1 { font-size: 32px; } p { font-size: 16px; } #footer { font-size: 12px; }

Example 1 The percentage value

The line-height has been set to a percentage value (120%).

body { font-size: 16px; line-height: 120%; } h1 { font-size: 32px; } p { font-size: 16px; } #footer { font-size: 12px; }

The percentage value (120%) and the body elements font size (16px) are used to create a calculated value (16px x 120% = 19.2px). This calculated value is inherited by descendant elements.

All descendants, regardless of their size, receive the same calculated value line-height.
element body h1 p #footer font-size line height 16px 32px 16px 12px 120% inherits calculated value - 19.2px inherits calculated value - 19.2px inherits calculated value - 19.2px calculated line-height 16px x 120% = 19.2px 19.2px 19.2px 19.2px

The line-heights do not scale with the relevant font size.

Too tight OK Too loose

Example 2 the length value

The line-height has been set using a length value (20px).

body { font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; } h1 { font-size: 32px; } p { font-size: 16px; } #footer { font-size: 12px; }

The length value (20px) is inherited by descendant elements.

All elements, regardless of their font-size, receive the same lineheight.

element body h1 p #footer font-size line height 16px 32px 16px 12px 20px inherits 20px inherits 20px inherits 20px calculated line-height 20px 20px 20px 20px

Again, the line-heights do not scale with the relevant font size.

Too tight OK Too loose

Example 3 the normal value

The line-height has been set to normal (which is approx 1.2).

body { font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; } h1 { font-size: 32px; } p { font-size: 16px; } #footer { font-size: 12px; }

In this case, the normal value rather than a calculated value is inherited by descendant elements. Browsers may interpret the actual normal value in slightly different ways.

All elements now have line-heights that are relative to their font-size.
element body h1 p #footer font-size line height 16px 32px 16px 12px normal normal normal normal calculated line-height 16px x approx 1.2 = approx 19.2px 32px x aprox 1.2 = approx 38.4px 16px x approx 1.2 = approx 19.2px 11.2px x approx 1.2 = approx 13.44px

Now, the line-heights scale with the relevant font size.

OK

OK OK

But what if you want the flexibility of the normal value, but to be able to specify the factor used? This is where number values come in.

Example 4 the number value

The line-height has been set to a number value (1.5).

body { font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; } h1 { font-size: 32px; } p { font-size: 16px; } #footer { font-size: 12px; }

In this case, the factor (1.5) rather than a calculated value is inherited by descendant elements.

All elements now have line-heights that are relative to their font-size.
element body h1 p #footer font-size line height 16px 32px 16px 12px 1.5 factor of 1.5 factor of 1.5 factor of 1.5 calculated line-height 16px x 1.5 = 24px 32px x 1.5 = 48px 16px x 1.5 = 24px 12px x 1.5 = 18px

Again, the line-heights scale with the relevant font size.

Too loose?

OK OK

So, which is the best method?

Generally, a number value is the best method for setting line-height as line-heights will then always scale with the relevant font-size.

It is hard to determine a perfect line-height as each situation is different. However, it is safe to assume that headings can have less relative line-height than paragraphs of text.

For example, all content could be set to 1.5, and then headings redefined to 1.2.
body { line-height: 1.5; } h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { line-height: 1.2; }

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 state: line spacing is at least spaceand-a-half within paragraphs. This means that to be AAA compliant, paragraph line-height should be set to 1.5

http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ - 1.4.8 Visual Presentation

Looking deeper into line-height

In order to understand line-height more fully, we need to look at various types of CSS boxes.

Lets start with a simple piece of HTML code.

<p> The <em>emphasis</em> element is defined as inline. </p>

The code should be rendered like this in most browsers.

The emphasis element is defined as inline.

There are four types of boxes that are relevant in this sample.

Box type 1: containing boxes

The paragraph is referred to as a containing box in this case - as it contains other boxes.

The emphasis element is defined as inline.

Box type 2: inline boxes

Inside the paragraph are a series of inline boxes.

The emphasis element is defined as inline.

Inline boxes do not form new blocks of content; the content is distributed in lines.

The emphasis element is a type of inline box.

The emphasis element is defined as inline.

Other boxes without specific markup are referred to as anonymous inline boxes.

The emphasis element is defined as inline.

Box type 3: line boxes

Inline boxes sit side-by-side within the containing box, forming line boxes.

Line boxes

The emphasis element is defined as inline.

Box type 4: content area

The content area is the invisible box that surrounds the text. Its height is determined by the fontsize.

Content area

Inline boxes and line-height

Line height is applied to inline boxes using a simple formula

1. Find the difference between the font-size and line-height. This will determine the leading.
For example: Font-size: 16px Line-height: 20px Difference: 4px (leading)

2. Divide the leading in half to create a half-leading value.

4px leading / 2 = 2px half-leading

3. Apply this half-leading value to the top and bottom of the content area.
2px half-leading

2px half-leading Content area

But things sometimes become a little more complicated...

The inline box generally wraps around the content box. Halfleading sits above and below the content box.

Inline box

However, the inline box can sometimes be smaller than the content area!

For example, if the line-height is smaller than the font size. In this case, the inline box will honor the line height.
For example: Font-size: 16px Line-height: 12px Inline box size: 12px

The content area then pokes out the top and bottom of the inline box. The half-leading collapses together to form the inline box height.
Inline box

Content area

Top half-leading

Bottom half-leading

Some notes on line box height

The height of line boxes is determined by the tallest inline box (or replaced element) inside.

The tallest inline box could be an anonymous inline box.

Line box

It could be an inline box with increased line-height.

Line box

Increased line-height

Or an inline box with a larger font-size.

Line box

Larger font

Or the presence of a superscript or subscript.

Line box

Superscript

Or even the presence of a replaced element, such as an image.

Line box

An inline image aligned to the baseline

Line boxes then stack on top of each other within the width of the containing box.
Containing box Line box

Line box

Some final notes

Superscript and subscript

The superscript and subscript elements can sometimes force the line box to be taller than normal.
Line box

Superscript

You can fix this by setting these elements to a line-height of 0 which will remove all half-leading from the element.

sup, sub { line-height: 0; }

Hat tip: www.velvetblues.com/

IE6, line-height and inline images

IE5/6 incorrectly removes the top half-leading when an inline image is present.
Line box

Top half-leading removed

An inline image

This is a hard one to fix, but if needed, margin can be added to the top of the image to fake the half-leading. This additional margin should only be shown to IE5/6 (using conditional comments)

Were done!