---
title: Typography
---

{% include_relative includes/_header.html %}

<div class="copy">
  <h2 id="description">Description</h2>

  <p>
    This plugin generates classes for responsive typography sets. The idea being
    that instead of giving text styles with multiple Tailwind classes and
    manually overriding at different breakpoints - you would instead have a
    responsive system set up.
  </p>

  <p>
    Similiar to responsive spacing, at AREA 17 we like responsive typesets
    classes so that the type across a site can be known and predictable. We
    define our type system and then use them consistently across a site. We
    never have a unique type style or a unique style at a breakpoint -
    everything is part of the system.
  </p>

  <p>
    Includes ability to <a href="#overriding">override type styles</a>.
  </p>

  <h2 id="setup">Setup</h2>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">tailwind.config.js</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-javascript">const { Typography } = require('@area17/a17-tailwind-plugins');

module.exports = {
  ...
  plugins: [Typography],
  theme: {
    fontFamilies: {
      "sans": "SuisseIntl, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif",
      "serif": "\"Times New Roman\", Georgia, serif",
      "mono": "\"Lucida Console\", Courier, monospace"
    },
    typesets: {
      "h1": {
        "xs": {
          "font-family": "var(--font-sans)",
          "bold-weight": 500,
          "font-size": "32",
          "line-height": 1.2,
          "letter-spacing": "-0.02em",
          "font-smoothing": "true"
        },
        "md": {
          "font-size": "36px"
        },
        "lg": {
          "font-size": "48px"
        }
      },
      "h2": {
        "xs": {
          "font-family": "var(--font-sans)",
          "bold-weight": "500",
          "font-size": "28px",
          "line-height": "1.2",
          "letter-spacing": "-0.02em",
          "font-smoothing": "true"
        },
        "md": {
          "font-size": "32px"
        },
        "lg": {
          "font-size": "36px"
        }
      },
      "body": {
        "xs": {
          "font-family": "var(--font-sans)",
          "bold-weight": "600",
          "font-size": "14px",
          "line-height": "1.7",
          "font-smoothing": "true"
        },
        "md": {
          "font-size": "16px"
        }
      }
    }
  }
  ...
};</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <h3 id="props">Settable type properties</h3>

  <p>
    You can set any CSS key/value type for fonts/text styles and also two some
    special, none standard font properties you can set:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <code>bold-weight</code> - sets a variable of
      <code>--bold-weight</code> and sets any <code>b</code> or
      <code>strong</code> children of the element to use
      <code>font-weight: var(--bold-weight);</code> to give you control over the
      font weights
    </li>
    <li>
      <code>font-smoothing</code> - <code>true</code> or <code>false</code>,
      equivalent to Tailwind's <code>antialiased</code> and
      <code>subpixel-antialiased</code> classes
    </li>
  </ul>

  <h2 id="output">Output</h2>

  <p>
    Based on the reference config mentioned in this guide, for the typeset named
    <code>h1</code> we'd get the following in our CSS:
  </p>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">app.css</figcaption>
    <pre class="code-example-code"><code class="language-css">:root {
  --font-sans: SuisseIntl, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
  --font-serif: "Times New Roman", Georgia, serif;
  --font-mono: "Lucida Console", Courier, monospace;
  --f-h1-font-family: var(--font-sans);
  --f-h1-font-size: 2rem;
  --f-h1-font-weight: 500;
  --f-h1-line-height: 1.2;
  --f-h1-letter-spacing: -0.02em;
  --f-h1--moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;
  --f-h1--webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
  --f-h1---bold-weight: 500;
}

.f-h1 {
  font-family: var(--f-h1-font-family);
  font-size: var(--f-h1-font-size);
  font-stretch: var(--f-h1-font-stretch);
  font-style: var(--f-h1-font-style);
  font-variant: var(--f-h1-font-variant);
  font-weight: var(--f-h1-font-weight);
  line-height: var(--f-h1-line-height);
  letter-spacing: var(--f-h1-letter-spacing);
  font-feature-settings: var(--f-h1-font-feature-settings);
  -moz-osx-font-smoothing: var(--f-h1--moz-osx-font-smoothing);
  -webkit-font-smoothing: var(--f-h1--webkit-font-smoothing);
  --bold-weight: var(--f-h1---bold-weight);
}

@media (min-width: 650px) {
  :root {
    --f-h1-font-size: 2.25rem;
  }
}

@media (min-width: 990px) {
  :root {
    --f-h1-font-size: 3rem;
  }
}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>
    Similarly for the typeset named <code>h1</code> we would get classes for
    each of the other typesets - in this guide that would include
    <code>f-h2</code>, <code>f-body</code> etc.
  </p>

  <h2 id="demo">Demo</h2>

  <p>
    Based on the reference config mentioned in this guide, we would get the
    following in our CSS:
  </p>
</div>

<p class="f-h1 mt-20">f-h1 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog</p>
<p class="f-h2">f-h2 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog</p>
<p class="f-body">f-body The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog</p>

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">&lt;p class="f-h1">f-h1 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog&lt;/p>
&lt;p class="f-h2">f-h2 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog&lt;/p>
&lt;p class="f-body">f-body The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog&lt;/p>
</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <h2 id="overriding">Overriding type styles</h2>

  <p>
    <a href="https://area17.com/" target="_blank">AREA 17</a> have been using
    responsive typography classes for a number of years on every build we have
    done, where the number 1 rule has always been "if its a type style, its that
    type style at all breakpoints". That is, if its our responsive "h1" class,
    then its the responsive "h1" class at all breakpoints. This rule was
    initially frustrating but has become the accepted norm at AREA 17. But, it
    is occasionally still a frustration - usually when it comes to product
    listing or article listing designs.
  </p>
  <p>
    Fortunately custom CSS properties helpes us add the ability to override type styles at different
    breakpoints. For example, the following example displays as a
    <code>f-h4</code> on smaller screens and as <code>f-code</code> at larger
    screens:
  </p>
</div>

<p class="f-h4 lg:f-code mt-20">
  f-h4 lg:f-code The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
</p>

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">&lt;p class="f-h4 lg:f-code">f-h4 md:f-code The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog&lt;/p></code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>
    <strong>Note:</strong> Unusual font settings may not be overridden, check your settings are correctly overriding.
  </p>
</div>

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