How to change the font weight of IText using FabricJS?

In this tutorial, we are going to see how to change the font weight of IText using FabricJS. The IText class was introduced in FabricJS version 1.4, extends fabric.Text and is used to create IText instances. An IText instance gives us the freedom to select, cut, paste or add new text without additional configurations. There are also various supported key combinations and mouse/touch combinations which make text interactive which are not provided in Text.

Textbox, however, which is based on IText allows us to resize the text rectangle and wraps lines automatically. This is not true for IText as height is not adjusted based on the wrapping of lines. We can manipulate our IText object by using various properties. Font weight refers to the value which determines how bold or light our text will appear. We can change the font weight by using the fontWeight property.

Syntax

new fabric.IText(text: String , { fontWeight: Number|String }: Object)

Parameters

  • text ? This parameter accepts a String which is the text string that we want to display.

  • options (optional) ? This parameter is an Object which provides additional customizations to our IText object. Using this parameter colour, cursor, stroke width and a lot of other properties can be changed related to the object of which fontWeight is a property.

fontWeight Property

The fontWeight property accepts a Number or String value which determines how bold or light our text shall appear inside the IText object. Its default value is "normal".

Common values include:

  • Numeric values: 100, 200, 300, 400 (normal), 500, 600, 700 (bold), 800, 900
  • String values: "normal", "bold", "lighter", "bolder"

Example 1: Using Numeric Font Weight

Let's see a code example to understand how our IText object would appear when the fontWeight property is used with a numerical value. In this case we have set the value as 400 which means that our text will have normal font weight.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
   <!-- Adding the Fabric JS Library-->
   <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/fabric.js/510/fabric.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
   <h2>Passing the fontWeight property as key with a numerical value</h2>
   <p>You can see that the text is of normal font</p>
   <canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
   
   <script>
      // Initiate a canvas instance
      var canvas = new fabric.Canvas("canvas");
      canvas.setWidth(document.body.scrollWidth);
      canvas.setHeight(250);

      // Initiate an itext object
      var itext = new fabric.IText(
         "Add sample text here.\nLorem ipsum dolor sit amet",{
            width: 300,
            left: 60,
            top: 70,
            fill: "#6abfe1",
            fontWeight: 400,
         }
      );

      // Add it to the canvas
      canvas.add(itext);
   </script>
</body>
</html>

Example 2: Using String Font Weight

In this example, we are passing the fontWeight property with a value as "bold". This means that our itext object will be rendered with text that has thicker letters.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
   <!-- Adding the Fabric JS Library-->
   <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/fabric.js/510/fabric.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
   <h2>Passing the fontWeight property as key with the value as "bold"</h2>
   <p>You can see that the IText object has been rendered with bold text</p>
   <canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
   
   <script>
      // Initiate a canvas instance
      var canvas = new fabric.Canvas("canvas");
      canvas.setWidth(document.body.scrollWidth);
      canvas.setHeight(250);

      // Initiate an itext object
      var itext = new fabric.IText(
         "Add sample text here.\nLorem ipsum dolor sit amet",{
            width: 300,
            left: 60,
            top: 70,
            fill: "#6abfe1",
            fontWeight: "bold",
         }
      );
   
      // Add it to the canvas
      canvas.add(itext);
   </script>
</body>
</html>

Font Weight Values Comparison

Numeric Value String Equivalent Appearance
100-300 "lighter" Light/Thin
400 "normal" Regular/Normal
700 "bold" Bold/Thick
800-900 "bolder" Extra Bold

Conclusion

The fontWeight property in FabricJS IText allows you to control text thickness using either numeric values (100-900) or string values ("normal", "bold"). This property is essential for creating visually appealing text elements with varying emphasis levels.

Updated on: 2026-03-15T23:19:00+05:30

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