Styling First-Letters with CSS ::first-letter

CSS Web Development Front End Technology

CSS can help us style the first letter of an element using the ::first-letter pseudo-element. Note that punctuation marks, digraphs and content property can change the first-letter.

The following examples illustrate CSS ::first-letter pseudo-element.

Example

Live Demo

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
body {
   text-align: center;
}
::first-letter {
   font-size: 3em;
   color: sienna;
   box-shadow: -10px 0 10px green;
   background-color: gainsboro;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Proin ut diam eros</h2>
<p>Donec rutrum a erat vitae interdum. </p>
<p>Integer eleifend lectus sit amet purus semper, ut pharetra metus gravida.</p>
</body>
</html>

Output

This will produce the following result −

Example

Live Demo

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
body {
   text-align: center;
}
body > * {
   background-color: slategrey;
}
::first-letter {
   font-size: 1.6em;
   color: darkviolet;
   background-color: silver;
   text-shadow: -15px 8px palevioletred;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Proin ut diam eros
<p>Donec rutrum a erat vitae interdum. </p>
<p>Integer eleifend lectus sit amet purus semper, ut pharetra metus gravida.</p>
</body>
</html>