Font Size

The font-size rule sets the size of the fonts in the element. You can express the size using an absolute measurement or a relative measurement. For example, the following rule (in a STYLE tag or in a style sheet file) sets the font size of <H2 ...> elements to an absolute size of 80 points:

H2 {font-size:80pt}

which gives us this <H2 ...>:

Hi there

Relative font sizes allow you to specify font size relative to the surrounding text. For example, this rule sets the font of <EM> elements to 180% the size of the surrounding text, making <EM> elements a little more <EM>phasized:

EM {font-size:180%}

So this string that uses <EM>

That is a <EM>groovy</EM> idea!

looks like this:

That is a groovy idea!

Using relative font sizes when applied to headers has a special problem that is worth understanding. We'll discuss that in the next page.

Headers and Relative Sizes >>>