CSS Text Decoration


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Text Decoration

In this chapter you will learn about the following properties:

  • text-decoration-line
  • text-decoration-color
  • text-decoration-style
  • text-decoration-thickness
  • text-decoration

Add a Decoration Line to Text

The text-decoration-line property is used to add a decoration line to text.

Tip: You can combine more than one value, like overline and underline to display lines both over and under a text.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
text-decoration: overline;
}

h2 {
text-decoration: line-through;
}

h3 {
text-decoration: underline;
}

p.ex {
text-decoration: overline underline;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Overline text decoration</h1>
<h2>Line-through text decoration</h2>
<h3>Underline text decoration</h3>
<p>Overline and underline text decoration.</p>

<p><strong>Note:</strong> It is not recommended to underline text that is not a link, as this often confuses
the reader.</p>

</body>
</html>

Specify a Color for the Decoration Line

The text-decoration-color property is used to set the color of the decoration line.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
text-decoration-line: overline;
text-decoration-color: red;
}

h2 {
text-decoration-line: line-through;
text-decoration-color: blue;
}

h3 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-color: green;
}

p {
text-decoration-line: overline underline;
text-decoration-color: purple;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Overline text decoration</h1>
<h2>Line-through text decoration</h2>
<h3>Underline text decoration</h3>
<p>Overline and underline text decoration.</p>

</body>
</html>

Specify a Style for the Decoration Line

The text-decoration-style property is used to set the style of the decoration line.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-style: solid; /* this is default */
}

h2 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-style: double;
}

h3 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-style: dotted;
}

p.ex1 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-style: dashed;
}

p.ex2 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-style: wavy;
}

p.ex3 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-color: red;
text-decoration-style: wavy;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Heading 1</h1>
<h2>Heading 2</h2>
<h3>Heading 3</h3>
<p>A paragraph.</p>
<p>Another paragraph.</p>
<p>Another paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

Specify the Thickness for the Decoration Line

The text-decoration-thickness property is used to set the thickness of the decoration line.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-thickness: auto; /* this is default */
}

h2 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-thickness: 5px;
}

h3 {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-thickness: 25%;
}

p {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-color: red;
text-decoration-style: double;
text-decoration-thickness: 5px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Heading 1</h1>
<h2>Heading 2</h2>
<h3>Heading 3</h3>
<p>A paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

The Shorthand Property

The text-decoration property is a shorthand property for:

  • text-decoration-line (required)
  • text-decoration-color (optional)
  • text-decoration-style (optional)
  • text-decoration-thickness (optional)

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
text-decoration: underline;
}

h2 {
text-decoration: underline red;
}

h3 {
text-decoration: underline red double;
}

p {
text-decoration: underline red double 5px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Heading 1</h1>
<h2>Heading 2</h2>
<h3>Heading 3</h3>
<p>A paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

A Small Tip

All links in HTML are underlined by default. Sometimes you see that links are styled with no underline. The text-decoration: none; is used to remove the underline from links, like this:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
a {
text-decoration: none;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Using text-decoration: none</h1>

<p>A link with no underline: <a href=”https://www.w3schools.com”>W3Schools.com</a></p>

</body>
</html>

All CSS text-decoration Properties

Property Description
text-decoration Sets all the text-decoration properties in one declaration
text-decoration-color Specifies the color of the text-decoration
text-decoration-line Specifies the kind of text decoration to be used (underline, overline, etc.)
text-decoration-style Specifies the style of the text decoration (solid, dotted, etc.)
text-decoration-thickness Specifies the thickness of the text decoration line


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