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Element

Element

Element functions can be customized with set and show rules.

A font family descriptor or priority list of font family descriptor.

A font family descriptor can be a plain string representing the family name or a dictionary with the following keys:

• name (required): The font family name.
• covers (optional): Defines the Unicode codepoints for which the family shall be used. This can be:
  • A predefined coverage set:
    • "latin-in-cjk" covers all codepoints except for those which exist in Latin fonts, but should preferrably be taken from CJK fonts.
  • A regular expression that defines exactly which codepoints shall be covered. Accepts only the subset of regular expressions which consist of exactly one dot, letter, or character class.

When processing text, Typst tries all specified font families in order until it finds a font that has the necessary glyphs. In the example below, the font Inria Serif is preferred, but since it does not contain Arabic glyphs, the arabic text uses Noto Sans Arabic instead.

The collection of available fonts differs by platform:

• In the web app, you can see the list of available fonts by clicking on the "Ag" button. You can provide additional fonts by uploading .ttf or .otf files into your project. They will be discovered automatically. The priority is: project fonts > server fonts.

• Locally, Typst uses your installed system fonts or embedded fonts in the CLI, which are Libertinus Serif, New Computer Modern, New Computer Modern Math, and DejaVu Sans Mono. In addition, you can use the --font-path argument or TYPST_FONT_PATHS environment variable to add directories that should be scanned for fonts. The priority is: --font-paths > system fonts > embedded fonts. Run typst fonts to see the fonts that Typst has discovered on your system. Note that you can pass the --ignore-system-fonts parameter to the CLI to ensure Typst won't search for system fonts.

Whether to allow last resort font fallback when the primary font list contains no match. This lets Typst search through all available fonts for the most similar one that has the necessary glyphs.

Note: Currently, there are no warnings when fallback is disabled and no glyphs are found. Instead, your text shows up in the form of "tofus": Small boxes that indicate the lack of an appropriate glyph. In the future, you will be able to instruct Typst to issue warnings so you know something is up.

The desired font style.

When an italic style is requested and only an oblique one is available, it is used. Similarly, the other way around, an italic style can stand in for an oblique one. When neither an italic nor an oblique style is available, Typst selects the normal style. Since most fonts are only available either in an italic or oblique style, the difference between italic and oblique style is rarely observable.

If you want to emphasize your text, you should do so using the emph function instead. This makes it easy to adapt the style later if you change your mind about how to signify the emphasis.

The desired thickness of the font's glyphs. Accepts an integer between 100 and 900 or one of the predefined weight names. When the desired weight is not available, Typst selects the font from the family that is closest in weight.

If you want to strongly emphasize your text, you should do so using the strong function instead. This makes it easy to adapt the style later if you change your mind about how to signify the strong emphasis.

The desired width of the glyphs. Accepts a ratio between 50% and 200%. When the desired width is not available, Typst selects the font from the family that is closest in stretch. This will only stretch the text if a condensed or expanded version of the font is available.

If you want to adjust the amount of space between characters instead of stretching the glyphs itself, use the tracking property instead.

The size of the glyphs. This value forms the basis of the em unit: 1em is equivalent to the font size.

You can also give the font size itself in em units. Then, it is relative to the previous font size.

The glyph fill paint.

How to stroke the text.

The amount of space that should be added between characters.

The amount of space between words.

Can be given as an absolute length, but also relative to the width of the space character in the font.

If you want to adjust the amount of space between characters rather than words, use the tracking property instead.

Whether to automatically insert spacing between CJK and Latin characters.

An amount to shift the text baseline by.

Whether certain glyphs can hang over into the margin in justified text. This can make justification visually more pleasing.

The top end of the conceptual frame around the text used for layout and positioning. This affects the size of containers that hold text.

The bottom end of the conceptual frame around the text used for layout and positioning. This affects the size of containers that hold text.

An ISO 639-1/2/3 language code.

Setting the correct language affects various parts of Typst:

• The text processing pipeline can make more informed choices.
• Hyphenation will use the correct patterns for the language.
• Smart quotes turns into the correct quotes for the language.
• And all other things which are language-aware.

An ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 region code.

This lets the text processing pipeline make more informed choices.

The OpenType writing script.

The combination of lang and script determine how font features, such as glyph substitution, are implemented. Frequently the value is a modified (all-lowercase) ISO 15924 script identifier, and the math writing script is used for features appropriate for mathematical symbols.

When set to auto, the default and recommended setting, an appropriate script is chosen for each block of characters sharing a common Unicode script property.

The dominant direction for text and inline objects. Possible values are:

• auto: Automatically infer the direction from the lang property.
• ltr: Layout text from left to right.
• rtl: Layout text from right to left.

When writing in right-to-left scripts like Arabic or Hebrew, you should set the text language or direction. While individual runs of text are automatically layouted in the correct direction, setting the dominant direction gives the bidirectional reordering algorithm the necessary information to correctly place punctuation and inline objects. Furthermore, setting the direction affects the alignment values start and end, which are equivalent to left and right in ltr text and the other way around in rtl text.

If you set this to rtl and experience bugs or in some way bad looking output, please get in touch with us through the Forum, Discord server, or our contact form.

Whether to hyphenate text to improve line breaking. When auto, text will be hyphenated if and only if justification is enabled.

Setting the text language ensures that the correct hyphenation patterns are used.

The "cost" of various choices when laying out text. A higher cost means the layout engine will make the choice less often. Costs are specified as a ratio of the default cost, so 50% will make text layout twice as eager to make a given choice, while 200% will make it half as eager.

Currently, the following costs can be customized:

• hyphenation: splitting a word across multiple lines
• runt: ending a paragraph with a line with a single word
• widow: leaving a single line of paragraph on the next page
• orphan: leaving single line of paragraph on the previous page

Hyphenation is generally avoided by placing the whole word on the next line, so a higher hyphenation cost can result in awkward justification spacing. Note: Hyphenation costs will only be applied when the linebreaks are set to "optimized". (For example by default implied by justify.)

Runts are avoided by placing more or fewer words on previous lines, so a higher runt cost can result in more awkward in justification spacing.

Text layout prevents widows and orphans by default because they are generally discouraged by style guides. However, in some contexts they are allowed because the prevention method, which moves a line to the next page, can result in an uneven number of lines between pages. The widow and orphan costs allow disabling these modifications. (Currently, 0% allows widows/orphans; anything else, including the default of 100%, prevents them. More nuanced cost specification for these modifications is planned for the future.)

Whether to apply kerning.

When enabled, specific letter pairings move closer together or further apart for a more visually pleasing result. The example below demonstrates how decreasing the gap between the "T" and "o" results in a more natural look. Setting this to false disables kerning by turning off the OpenType kern font feature.

Whether to apply stylistic alternates.

Sometimes fonts contain alternative glyphs for the same codepoint. Setting this to true switches to these by enabling the OpenType salt font feature.

Which stylistic sets to apply. Font designers can categorize alternative glyphs forms into stylistic sets. As this value is highly font-specific, you need to consult your font to know which sets are available.

This can be set to an integer or an array of integers, all of which must be between 1 and 20, enabling the corresponding OpenType feature(s) from ss01 to ss20. Setting this to none will disable all stylistic sets.

Whether standard ligatures are active.

Certain letter combinations like "fi" are often displayed as a single merged glyph called a ligature. Setting this to false disables these ligatures by turning off the OpenType liga and clig font features.

Whether ligatures that should be used sparingly are active. Setting this to true enables the OpenType dlig font feature.

Whether historical ligatures are active. Setting this to true enables the OpenType hlig font feature.

Which kind of numbers / figures to select. When set to auto, the default numbers for the font are used.

The width of numbers / figures. When set to auto, the default numbers for the font are used.

Whether to have a slash through the zero glyph. Setting this to true enables the OpenType zero font feature.

Whether to turn numbers into fractions. Setting this to true enables the OpenType frac font feature.

It is not advisable to enable this property globally as it will mess with all appearances of numbers after a slash (e.g., in URLs). Instead, enable it locally when you want a fraction.

Raw OpenType features to apply.

• If given an array of strings, sets the features identified by the strings to 1.
• If given a dictionary mapping to numbers, sets the features identified by the keys to the values.

Content in which all text is styled according to the other arguments.

The text.