The word-spacing CSS property sets the length of space between words and between tags.

/* Keyword value */ word-spacing: normal;  /* <length> values */ word-spacing: 3px; word-spacing: 0.3em;  /* <percentage> values */ word-spacing: 50%; word-spacing: 200%;  /* Global values */ word-spacing: inherit; word-spacing: initial; word-spacing: revert; word-spacing: unset; 

word-spacing

The word-spacing CSS property sets the length of space between words and between tags.

Syntax

/* Keyword value */ word-spacing: normal;  /* <length> values */ word-spacing: 3px; word-spacing: 0.3em;  /* <percentage> values */ word-spacing: 50%; word-spacing: 200%;  /* Global values */ word-spacing: inherit; word-spacing: initial; word-spacing: revert; word-spacing: unset; 

Values

normal

The normal inter-word spacing, as defined by the current font and/or the browser.

<length>

Specifies extra spacing in addition to the intrinsic inter-word spacing defined by the font.

<percentage>

Specifies extra spacing as a percentage of the affected character's advance width.

Examples

HTML

<div id="mozdiv1">Here are many words...</div> <div id="mozdiv2">...and many more!</div> 

CSS

#mozdiv1 {   word-spacing: 15px; }  #mozdiv2 {   word-spacing: 5em; } 

Accessibility concerns

A large positive or negative word-spacing value will make the sentences the styling is applied to unreadable. For text styled with a very large positive value, the words will be so far apart that it will no longer appear to be a sentence. For text styled with a large negative value, the words will overlap each other to the point where the beginning and end of each word is unrecognizable.

Legible word-spacing must be determined on a case-by-case basis, as different font families have different character widths. There is no one value that can ensure all font families automatically maintain their legibility.

MDN Understanding WCAG, Guideline 1.4 explanations Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.8 | W3C Understanding WCAG 2.0

Formal definition

Initial value	normal
Applies to	all elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inherited	yes
Percentages	refer to the width of the affected glyph
Computed value	an optimum, minimum, and maximum value, each consisting of either an absolute length, a percentage, or the keyword normal
Animation type	a length

Formal syntax

normal | <length>

Specifications

Specification
CSS Text Module Level 3 # word-spacing-property

See also

letter-spacing Select your preferred language English (US)DeutschFrançais日本語한국어PolskiРусский中文 (简体) Change language