CSS tab-size

<!DOCTYPE html>
<title>Example</title>
<style>
.small-tab { 
  tab-size: 2;
}
</style>
<pre>
Normal
	tab
		size
</pre>
<pre class="small-tab">
Small
	tab
		size
</pre>

The tab-size property determines the length of the space used by the tab (U+0009) character.

This can be especially helpful when presenting content such as computer code where there could be many lines of indentation.

Syntax

Possible Values

<integer>: Represents the measure as multiples of the space character's advance width (U+0020). Must not be a negative value.
<length>: Represents the absolute length of the tab size. Must not be a negative value.

In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:

initial: Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit: Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset: This value acts as either inherit or initial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.

Basic Property Information

Initial Value: 8
Applies To: Block containers.
Inherited?: Yes
Media: Visual
Animatable: Yes (see example)

Example Code

Basic CSS

Working Example within an HTML Document

Try it

CSS Specifications

The tab-size property is defined in CSS Text Module Level 3 (W3C Last Call Working Draft 10 October 2013).

Browser Support

The following table provided by Caniuse.com shows the level of browser support for this feature.

Vendor Prefixes

For maximum browser compatibility many web developers add browser-specific properties by using extensions such as -webkit- for Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera (newer versions), -ms- for Internet Explorer, -moz- for Firefox, -o- for older versions of Opera etc. As with any CSS property, if a browser doesn't support a proprietary extension, it will simply ignore it.

This practice is not recommended by the W3C, however in many cases, the only way you can test a property is to include the CSS extension that is compatible with your browser.

The major browser manufacturers generally strive to adhere to the W3C specifications, and when they support a non-prefixed property, they typically remove the prefixed version. Also, W3C advises vendors to remove their prefixes for properties that reach Candidate Recommendation status.

Many developers use Autoprefixer, which is a postprocessor for CSS. Autoprefixer automatically adds vendor prefixes to your CSS so that you don't need to. It also removes old, unnecessary prefixes from your CSS.

You can also use Autoprefixer with preprocessors such as Less and Sass.

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