Using :first-letter and :first-line Pseudo-elements
This sample demonstrates the :first-letter and :first-line pseudo-elements, which can be used to create some of the typographical effects commonly used in newspapers. You can use the :first-letter pseudo-element to create a drop cap effect, as shown in the column on the left. You can use the :first-line pseudo-element to add bold styles and larger fonts to the first line of paragraphs, as shown in the middle column.

Click the buttons below to see how the first line dynamically changes when the page reflows.
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Internet Explorer Daily News
Initial caps are a great a way to dress up your text. You can use them to draw attention to the beginning of an article. The intial caps used here are commonly called drop caps.

When you use the :first-letter pseudo-element on a paragraph, the first letter of the paragraph displays the styles you apply to it. The first letter can can display different colors, sizes, fonts, and other CSS attributes.
New features in Internet Explorer 5.5 include the first-line pseudo-element. This allows authors to create typographical effects that are applied to the first line of a block of text.


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