initial-letter

The initial-letter CSS property specifies styling for dropped, raised, and sunken initial letters.

Initial value	normal
Applies to	::first-letter pseudo-elements and inline-level first child of a block container
Inherited	no
Media	visual
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete
Canonical order	the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
initial-letter: normal;

/* Numeric values */
initial-letter: 1.5;    /* Initial letter occupies 1.5 lines */
initial-letter: 3.0;    /* Initial letter occupies 3 lines */
initial-letter: 3.0 2;  /* Initial letter occupies 3 lines and
                           sinks 2 lines */

/* Global values */
initial-letter: inherit;
initial-letter: initial;
initial-letter: unset;

Values

normal

No special initial-letter effect. Text behaves as normal.

<number>

Defines the size of the initial letter, in terms of how many lines it occupies. Negative values are not allowed.

<integer>

Defines the number of lines the initial letter should sink when the size of it is given. Values must be greater than zero. If omitted, it duplicates the size value, floored to the nearest positive whole number.

Formal syntax

normal | [ <number> <integer>? ]

Example

CSS content

.normal {
  initial-letter: normal;
}

.onefive {
  initial-letter: 1.5;
}

.three {
  initial-letter: 3.0;
}

HTML content

<p class="normal">Initial letter is normal</p>
<p class="onefive">Initial letter occupies 1.5 lines</p>
<p class="three">Initial letter occupies 3 lines</p>

Output

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Inline Layout The definition of 'initial-letter' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

[1] This feature is not implemented yet. See bug 1223880.