Controlling Space between Letters

Finally, CSS allows you to adjust the amount of space between the letters in an HTML element with the letter-spacing attribute, as Figure 49.5 shows. Like the word-spacing attribute, letter-spacing adds its value to the browser's default, and it accepts negative values to decrease the default amount of space between letters.

Figure 49.5. Use the letter-spacing attribute to increase (or decrease) the default amount of space between letters in an element.

In a style definition, letter-spacing looks something like this:

 letter-spacing: 1px; 

TIP

In general, large type sizes require less word space, while small type sizes require more. In addition, wide fonts such Verdana often benefit from a little extra word space, while condensed fonts look better with slightly less.

or, for a net loss in letter space:

 letter-spacing: -1px; 

or, for the browser's default amount of letter space:

 letter-spacing: normal; 

TIP

Increased letter spacing tends to improve the legibility of small type, while decreased letter spacing tends to look better in large type. In addition, typefaces with wide characters tend to like more letter space, while typefaces with narrow characters like less.