---
title: Underline
---

{% include_relative includes/_header.html %}

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

  <p>Creates a series of classes to style text underlines using modern CSS.</p>

  <p>
    <a href="#demo">Jump to the demos</a> to see each in action, or jump to a
    specific underline class group:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li><a href="#style">Style</a></li>
    <li><a href="#skip">Skip</a></li>
    <li><a href="#thickness">Thickness</a></li>
    <li><a href="#offset">Offset</a></li>
    <li><a href="#color">Color</a></li>
  </ul>

  <h3>A note about Tailwind 3's native fancy underline styles</h3>

  <p>
    In Tailwind 3, Tailwind introduced "<a
      href="https://tailwindcss.com/blog/tailwindcss-v3#fancy-underline-styles"
      target="_blank"
      >fancy underline styles</a
    >" to allow styling of text decoration underlines and you may choose to use
    those instead.
  </p>

  <p>The main differences are these:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      this plugin allows you to set underline colours based off theme defined
      text, border and background colours - which you may find more useful than
      using Tailwind's colour names or hex values
    </li>
    <li>
      this plugin defines the offset with <code>em</code>s and not
      <code>px</code> - so the apparent position of the underline is fluid with
      the font size and not fixed. Essentially, if you wanted your underline to
      be level with the bottom of the descender on the letter "g" - if you set
      the position with pixels and change the font size at breakpoints, you'll
      need to set multiple pixel values. If you use <code>em</code>s, one value
      should see you good for all font sizes.
    </li>
    <li>
      this plugin's classes are prefixed with <code>underline-</code> instead of
      <code>decoration-</code>, both of which seem sensible, at any rate they
      don't clash
    </li>
  </ul>

  <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 { Underline } = require('@area17/a17-tailwind-plugins');

module.exports = {
  ...
  plugins: [Underline],
  theme: {
    colors: {
      "grey-15": "#d9d9d9",
      "grey-54": "#757575",
      "grey-90": "#1a1a1a",
      black: "#000",
      'blue-03': "#004F91"
    },
    underlineColor: {
      primary: "#757575",
      secondary: "#004F91"
    },
    borderColor: ApplyColorVariables(colors, {
        primary: "#000",
        secondary: "#d9d9d9"
      }
    ),
    textColor: ApplyColorVariables(colors, {
        primary: "#1a1a1a",
        secondary: "#757575",
        accent: "#004F91"
      }
    ),
    backgroundColor: ApplyColorVariables(colors, {
        accent: "#004F91",
      }
    )
  }
  ...
};</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>
    Requires <code>theme.textColor</code>, <code>theme.borderColor</code> and/or
    <code>theme.backgroundColor</code> configured.
  </p>

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

  <p>A series of classes to give the underline a style:</p>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">app.css</figcaption>
    <pre class="code-example-code"><code class="language-css">.underline-solid {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-style: solid;
}

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

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

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

.underline-wavy {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-style: wavy;
}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>A series of classes to define the underline skip behavior:</p>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">app.css</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-css">.underline-skip-none {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-skip-ink: none;
}

.underline-skip-auto {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-skip-ink: auto;
}

.underline-skip-all {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-skip-ink: all;
}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>Two classes to use <code>text-decoration-thickness</code> keywords:</p>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">app.css</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-css">.underline-thickness-auto {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-thickness: auto;
}

.underline-thickness-from-font {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-thickness: from-font;
}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>
    A series of thickness classes, in a <code>px</code> scale from 1 to pixels:
  </p>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">app.css</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-css">.underline-thickness-1 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-thickness: 1px;
}

.underline-thickness-2 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-thickness: 2px;
}

...

.underline-thickness-20 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-thickness: 20px;
}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>
    A series of offset classes, in a <em>arbitrary</em> scale of 0 to 20, where
    <code>1 - 0.05em</code>, <code>2 = 0.1em</code> and so on:
  </p>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">app.css</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-css">.underline-offset-0 {
  ttext-decoration-line: underline;
  ext-underline-offset: 0;
}

.underline-offset-1 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-underline-offset: 0.05em;
}

.underline-offset-2 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-underline-offset: 0.1em;
}

...

.underline-offset-20 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-underline-offset: 1em;
}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>
    A series of negative offset classes in the same <em>arbitrary</em> scale of
    0 to 20:
  </p>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">app.css</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-css">.-underline-offset-1 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-underline-offset: -0.05em;
}

.-underline-offset-2 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-underline-offset: -0.1em;
}

...

.-underline-offset-20 {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-underline-offset: -1em;
}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>
    And finally, a series of colour classes based on your tailwind config color
    set for <code>textColor</code>, <code>backgroundColor</code> and
    <code>borderColor</code>, for example:
  </p>

  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">app.css</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-css">.underline-text-primary {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-color: #1a1a1a;
}

.underline-text-secondary {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-color: #757575;
}

.underline-border-primary {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-color: #757575;
}

.underline-border-secondary {
  text-decoration-line: underline;
  text-decoration-color: #f00;
}</code></pre>
  </figure>

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

  <h3>Responsive, interactive demo</h3>
</div>

<span
  class="inline-block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid underline-offset-4 underline-thickness-4 underline-border-tertiary underline-skip-none lg:underline-thickness-8 focus:underline-border-secondary hover:underline-border-primary"
  >hover me, resize page</span
>

<div class="copy mt-40">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">&lt;span class="underline-solid underline-offset-4 underline-thickness-4 underline-border-tertiary underline-skip-none lg:underline-thickness-8 focus:underline-border-secondary hover:underline-border-primary">&lt;span></code></pre>
  </figure>

  <hr />

  <h3 id="style">Underline style (<code>text-decoration-style</code>)</h3>
</div>

{% assign styles =
"underline-solid,underline-double,underline-dotted,underline-dashed,underline-wavy"
| split: ',' %} {% for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="{{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <hr />

  <h3 id="skip">Underline skip (<code>text-decoration-skip-ink</code>)</h3>
</div>

{% assign styles = "underline-skip-none,underline-skip-auto,underline-skip-all"
| split: ',' %} {% for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <hr />

  <h3 id="thickness">
    Underline thickness (<code>text-decoration-thickness</code>)
  </h3>

  <h4 id="thickness-keywords">Thickness keywords</h4>
</div>

{% assign styles = "underline-thickness-auto,underline-thickness-from-font" |
split: ',' %} {% for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <hr />

  <h4 id="thickness-scale">Thickness scale (in <code>px</code>)</h4>
</div>

{% assign styles =
"underline-thickness-1,underline-thickness-2,underline-thickness-3,underline-thickness-4,underline-thickness-5,underline-thickness-6,underline-thickness-7,underline-thickness-8,underline-thickness-9,underline-thickness-10,underline-thickness-11,underline-thickness-12,underline-thickness-13,underline-thickness-14,underline-thickness-15,underline-thickness-16,underline-thickness-17,underline-thickness-18,underline-thickness-19,underline-thickness-20"
| split: ',' %} {% for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy mt-60">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <hr />

  <h3 id="offset">Underline offset (<code>text-underline-offset</code>)</h3>
</div>

{% assign styles =
"underline-offset-0,underline-offset-1,underline-offset-2,underline-offset-3,underline-offset-4,underline-offset-5,underline-offset-6,underline-offset-7,underline-offset-8,underline-offset-9,underline-offset-10,underline-offset-11,underline-offset-12,underline-offset-13,underline-offset-14,underline-offset-15,underline-offset-16,underline-offset-17,underline-offset-18,underline-offset-19,underline-offset-20"
| split: ',' %} {% for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy mt-60">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <h4>Negative offsets</h4>
</div>

{% assign styles =
"-underline-offset-20,-underline-offset-19,-underline-offset-18,-underline-offset-17,-underline-offset-16,-underline-offset-15,-underline-offset-14,-underline-offset-13,-underline-offset-12,-underline-offset-11,-underline-offset-10,-underline-offset-9,-underline-offset-8,-underline-offset-7,-underline-offset-6,-underline-offset-5,-underline-offset-4,-underline-offset-3,-underline-offset-2,-underline-offset-1"
| split: ',' %} {% for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}</span>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="underline-solid {{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <hr />

  <h3 id="color">Underline color (<code>text-decoration-color</code>)</h3>

  <p>
    Underline colour takes its values from your Tailwind config colors. It
    creates classes from <code>theme.colors</code> and
    <code>theme.underlineColor</code> and also name spaced classes from
    <code>theme.textColor</code>, <code>theme.borderColor</code> and/or
    <code>theme.backgroundColor</code>.
  </p>

  <p>
    From <code>theme.underlineColor</code>, using the config in this document:
  </p>
</div>

{% assign styles = "underline-primary,underline-secondary" | split: ',' %} {%
for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}"
  >{{ style }}</span
>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}"
  >{{ style }}</span
>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>From <code>theme.colors</code>, using the config in this document:</p>
</div>

{% assign styles =
"underline-grey-15,underline-grey-54,underline-grey-90,underline-black,underline-blue-03"
| split: ',' %} {% for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}"
  >{{ style }}</span
>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}"
  >{{ style }}</span
>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>

  <p>
    And finally, from <code>theme.textColor</code>,
    <code>theme.borderColor</code> and/or <code>theme.backgroundColor</code>,
    using the config in this document:
  </p>
</div>

{% assign styles =
"underline-text-primary,underline-text-secondary,underline-text-accent,underline-border-primary,underline-border-secondary,underline-bg-accent"
| split: ',' %} {% for style in styles %} {% if first %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-40 underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}"
  >{{ style }}</span
>
{% else %}
<span class="block f-h2 mt-20 underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}"
  >{{ style }}</span
>
{% endif %} {% endfor %}

<div class="copy">
  <figure class="code-example">
    <figcaption class="code-example-filename">document.html</figcaption>
    <pre
      class="code-example-code"
    ><code class="language-html">{% for style in styles %}&lt;span class="underline-solid underline-thickness-2 {{ style }}">{{ style }}&lt;/span><br>
{% endfor %}</code></pre>
  </figure>
</div>

{% include_relative includes/_footer.html %}