5.10.2 The :first-letter pseudo-element

5.10.2 The :first-letter pseudo-element


[Define better alignment of drop caps? BB]
   P:first-letter { font-size: 200%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;
float: left }

Surely the best way to define a drop cap is to state how many lines of text
it should span. This prevents problems with getting the font size right. In
fact the text-top of the drop cap should line up with the text top of the
first line, and the baseline of the drop cap should line up with the base
line of the last line of text opposite to it.
If a different font is used for the drop cap, which is common, just stating
a line value would solve a lot of problems.
    It would also make life easier for the user-agent which would calculate
the required height for the Drop cap and then fit the drop cap to it.
    The only possible problem would arise with those fonts with a lot of
internal leading below the descender, when this may affect the placement of
the first line NOT opposite the drop cap.
    It would also be nice to be able to move this drop-cap to the left, but
I suppose this could be done with the line-indent property.
    Of course at the moment this is academic, as the major players provide
no support at all for the text pseudo properties.

Received on Monday, 16 February 1998 02:03:12 UTC