---
id: 148
title: 'Animatable: Text'
date: 2015-10-03T08:44:51+00:00
author: Brandon Rozek
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tags: ["Web", "CSS"]
---
This post is part 3 of my series on animation. In this post, I’ll show you different animations you can add onto text. If you haven’t already, you should check out [part 1](https://brandonrozek.com/2015/09/animatable-box-model/) and [part 2](https://brandonrozek.com/2015/05/animatable-border/) of this series. Animations on text can be used to bring attention, to add importance, or to convey a point. As with all animations, however, keep your user in mind and your text readable.

<!--more-->

This post follows along with a [Codepen demo](http://codepen.io/brandonrozek/full/dYGwbE/){.broken_link} I made.

### line-height

  * Accepts certain keywords, or any positive number or length
  * Initial value: normal

Line-height is the space between each line in a text block. It is commonly recommended that you use a unitless line-height because then it takes the font-size into consideration. When you use an unitless value, the browser determines the line-height by taking the unitless value and multiplying it by the element&#8217;s font-size. In the Codepen demo (#1), you can see the line-height decreasing while the opacity increases.

<pre><code class="language-css">
@keyframes line-height {

  to {

    opacity: 1;
    
    line-height: 1.2;

  }

}

.line-height {

  opacity: 0;

  line-height: 2.5;

  animation: line-height .75s ease .2s infinite;

}
</code></pre>

### font-weight

  * Accepts certain keywords or 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 (the higher the number, the darker the font-weight)
  * Initial value: normal

Font-weight specifies the boldness of the text. If the typeface doesn&#8217;t come with multiple weights, then the animation would only happen between the weights that it does have. In the demo (#2), the text will go from normal weight to bold.

<pre><code class="language-css">
@keyframes font-weight {

  to { font-weight: 900;}

}

.font-weight {

  font-weight: 100;

  animation: font-weight 2s linear .2s infinite alternate;

}
</code></pre>

### font-size

  * Accepts any length
  * Initial value: medium

It is important to note that changing the font-size could change the value of other text properties that are dependent upon it. (Like unitless line-heights) In the demo (#3), you can see the text&#8217;s font-size shrinking.

<pre><code class="language-css">
@keyframes font-size {

  to { font-size: .1rem;}

}

.font-size {

  font-size: 2rem;

  animation: font-size 2s ease-out  .1s infinite;

}
</code></pre>

### text-shadow

  * Accepts a color and 3 lengths
  * Color | Offset-X | Offset-Y | Blur-radius
  * Initial value: none

Text-shadow applies a shadow to both the text and it&#8217;s text-decoration. Multiple shadows can be added, and they are applied from front to back. In the animation (#4), you can see the text&#8217;s shadow move.

<pre><code class="language-css">
@keyframes text-shadow {

  to { text-shadow: 25px 10px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .9);}

}

.text-shadow {

    font-size: 1.5rem;
    
    text-shadow: -10px 5px 3.5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .3);
    
    animation: text-shadow 1s ease 0s infinite;

}
</code></pre>

### text-decoration-color

  * Accepts a color value
  * Initial value: currentColor

This sets the color for [text-decoration-line](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-decoration-line) (underlines, overlines, or strike-throughs) In the demo (#5), the strike-through changes from red to black.

<pre><code class="language-css">
@keyframes text-decoration-color {

  to { text-decoration-color: black;}

}

.text-decoration-color {

  text-decoration-color: red;

  text-decoration-line: line-through;

  animation: text-decoration-color 2s linear 0s infinite alternate;

}
</code></pre>

### word-spacing

  * Accepts keywords or positive/negative length
  * Initial value: normal

Word-spacing defines the space between tags and words. Negative values bring the words closer to each other. In the demo (#6), you can see the word-spacing increase with &#8216;good bye!&#8217; where the word &#8216;bye!&#8217; is moving away.

<pre><code class="language-css">
@keyframes word-spacing {

  to { word-spacing: 5rem;}

}

.word-spacing {

  word-spacing: normal;

  animation: word-spacing 1s ease-in 0s infinite;

}
</code></pre>

### letter-spacing

  * Accepts keywords or positive/negative length
  * Initial value: normal

Letter-spacing specifies the spacing between text characters. Negative values bring the letters closer together. In the demo (#7), each letter gets separated from one another.

<pre><code class="language-css">
@keyframes letter-spacing {

  to { letter-spacing: 2rem;}

}

.letter-spacing {

  letter-spacing: 0;

  animation: letter-spacing .75s ease 0s infinite alternate;

}
</code></pre>

### Conclusion

These animations show the different things you can do with text. Perhaps you&#8217;ll add a small animation to a heading to bring depth and attention, or you&#8217;ll add some to the text of a button to scream &#8220;call to action&#8221;. Whatever you decide, I hope this post helped. I&#8217;ll see you again next time with another animatable post! 🙂

#### The links

[https://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/css/properties/line-height](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/line-height) <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/line-height> <https://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/css/properties/font-weight>{.broken_link} <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/font-weight> <https://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/css/properties/font-size>{.broken_link} <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/font-size> <https://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/css/properties/text-shadow>{.broken_link} <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-shadow> <https://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/css/properties/text-decoration-color>{.broken_link} <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-decoration-color> <https://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/css/properties/word-spacing>{.broken_link} <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/word-spacing> <https://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/css/properties/letter-spacing>{.broken_link} <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/letter-spacing>