Text & Characters

This family groups together all the properties that allow you to control text, its font, size, spacing, alignment, and decorations.

Standard properties (to use)

Table : Standard properties (to use)
Property	Description
`color`	Defines the text color.
`font`	Shorthand property grouping multiple values (`font-style`, `font-variant`, `font-weight`, `font-size`, `line-height`, `font-family`).
`font-family`	Defines the font family (e.g., Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman).
`font-size`	Defines the font size (px, em, rem, %).
`font-style`	Defines the text style: normal, italic, oblique.
`font-variant`	Enables small caps (`small-caps`).
`font-weight`	Defines the font weight: normal, bold, 100 to 900.
`letter-spacing`	Defines the spacing between letters.
`line-height`	Defines the line height (leading).
`text-align`	Defines horizontal alignment: left, right, center, justify.
`text-decoration`	Defines text decorations: underline, overline, line-through.
`text-overflow`	Defines how overflowing content is displayed: `ellipsis` adds ellipsis (…)
`text-shadow`	Defines a shadow applied to the text.
`text-transform`	Defines text transformation: uppercase, lowercase, capitalize.
`vertical-align`	Defines vertical alignment (baseline, top, middle, bottom).
`white-space`	Controls handling of spaces and line breaks: normal, nowrap, pre, pre-wrap.
`word-break`	Defines word breaking: normal, break-all, keep-all.
`word-wrap` / `overflow-wrap`	Forces line breaks if a word overflows.
`word-spacing`	Defines spacing between words.
`writing-mode`	Defines the writing mode: horizontal-tb, vertical-rl, vertical-lr.
`direction`	Defines text direction: ltr (left → right), rtl (right → left).
`unicode-bidi`	Defines bidirectional text behavior in combination with `direction`.

Specific or deprecated properties

Some properties are tied to older browsers (Internet Explorer) or specific use cases (Asian languages). They are rarely used today.

Table : Specific or deprecated properties
Property	Status	Explanation
`font-size-adjust`	Rarely used	Adjusts the height of lowercase letters independently of `font-size`.
`font-stretch`	Poorly supported	Defines font stretching or compression (condensed, expanded).
`line-break`	Specific to Asian languages	Defines line breaking rules in Japanese and Chinese.
`text-align-last`	Internet Explorer	Defines alignment of the last line specifically.
`text-autospace`	Internet Explorer	Defines automatic spacing for Asian characters.
`text-kashida-space`	Internet Explorer	Defines justification specific to Arabic text.
`text-underline-position`	Specific to Asian languages	Defines the underline position (useful for Japanese and Chinese).

Key takeaways

The main properties cover font (font-family, font-size, font-weight, font-style),
spacing (line-height, letter-spacing, word-spacing),
and text formatting (text-align, text-transform, text-decoration).
Deprecated properties like text-autospace or text-kashida-space should no longer be used.
For Asian languages or Arabic, some specific properties (line-break, writing-mode, unicode-bidi) may still be useful.