Applies one or more styles to the first line of the object.

Syntax

:first-line { sRules }

Possible values

sRules

Value that specifies one or more cascading style sheet attribute/value pairs.

Remarks

The background, clear, color, font, font-family, font-size, font-style, font-variant, font-weight, line-height, text-decoration, text-transform, vertical-align, and word-spacing properties apply to the :first-line pseudo-element.

The length of the first line depends on several factors, such as the width of the page and the font size.

The :first-line pseudo-element can be attached to block-level elements. It can be attached to inline elements if you set the corresponding display property to block.

Examples

The following examples show how to use the :first-line pseudo-element.

The following rule changes to uppercase the letters of the first line of elements with the specified className property:

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<style>
    .CapFirst:first-line {text-transform: uppercase}
</style>

<p class="CapFirst">The first line in this paragraph will be in 
all uppercase letters. Subsequent lines will render normally.</p>

The following rules illustrate the cumulative effect of attaching :first-line and :first-letter pseudo-elements to an element:

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<style>
    .LetterAndline:first-line   {text-transform: uppercase}
    .LetterAndline:first-letter {font-size: 200%; float: left}
</style>

<p class="LetterAndline">The first letter in this paragraph will 
be twice the size of the other letters in the paragraph.  The 
first line in this paragraph will have uppercase letters.   
Subsequent lines will render normally.</p>

The following example uses the :first-line pseudo-element to create a typographical effect that looks like a column in a newspaper:

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<style>
    .col1 {border-right: black 1px solid; 
        padding-right: 10px; 
        padding-left: 5px; 
        width: 140px;
        text-justify: newspaper
        }
    .newsitem:first-line {font-size: 14pt; 
        left: 0px; 
        float: left; 
        position: absolute; 
        top: 100px
       }
</style>

<div class="col1">
<div class="newsitem">New features in Internet Explorer 5.5 include 
the first-line pseudo-element. This allows authors to create
typographical effects that are applied to the first line of a block 
of text.</div>
</div>

Standards information

This pseudo-element is defined in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 1 (CSS1).

Applies to

ADDRESS, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, CENTER, DD, DIV, DL, DT, FIELDSET, FORM, HN, LI, P, XMP

See also