First Letter Pseudo Element

May 03, 2019

In today’s TypeTip™ we will be taking a look at the often overlooked :first-letter CSS pseudo element. Though you might only use this for specific article-format web pages, it’s still a nice-to-have in your web dev toolset.

The HTML

Like most pseudo elements, nothing has to change with your pre-existing HTML structure:

<article>
    <p>It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.</p>
</article>

The CSS

Here’s where the magic happens:

p:first-letter {
    color: orangered;
    font-size: 250%;
}

Live CodePen

See the Pen First Letter Pseudo Element by Bradley Taunt (@bradleytaunt) on CodePen.

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