Text

View source on GitHub

The Text component is used for all non-heading text on all surfaces, whether inside of UI components or in long-form paragraph text.

also known as Copy

Figma:

Web:

iOS:

Android:

A11y:

<Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 4, row: 0 }}><Text size="500">This simple description uses the Text component.</Text><Badge text="Badge also uses it" /></Flex>

<Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 4, row: 0 }}><Text size="500">This simple description uses the Text component.</Text><Badge text="Badge also uses it" /></Flex>

Props

Component props
Name	Type	Default
`align`	`"start" \| "end" \| "center" \| "forceLeft" \| "forceRight"`	`"start"`
	`"start"` and `"end"` should be used for regular alignment since they flip with locale direction. `"forceLeft"` and `"forceRight"` should only be used in special cases where locale direction should be ignored, such as tabular or numeric text.
`children`	`React.Node`	-
`color`	`"default" \| "subtle" \| "success" \| "error" \| "warning" \| "shopping" \| "link" \| "inverse" \| "light" \| "dark"`	`"default"`
`inline`	`boolean`	`false`
`italic`	`boolean`	`false`
`lineClamp`	`number`	-
	Visually truncate the text to the specified number of lines. This also adds the `title` attribute if `children` is a string, which displays the full text on hover in most browsers.
`overflow`	`"normal" \| "breakWord" \| "noWrap"`	`"breakWord"`
`size`	`"100" \| "200" \| "300" \| "400" \| "500" \| "600"`	`300`
	The sizes are based on our font-size design tokens.
`title`	`string`	-
	This populates the `title` attribute of the element, which is visible on hover in most browsers. This is useful when truncating the text with `lineClamp` when `children` is a `React.Node`. See the Title variant for more details.
`underline`	`boolean`	`false`
`weight`	`"bold" \| "normal"`	`"normal"`

Usage guidelines

Any time that text is needed in the UI as a label, paragraph or number display

Don't

When you need to use a semantic H1–H6 heading to create a clear typographic hierarchy and page structure. Use Heading instead.

Best practices

Emphasize text inside of paragraphs by using a bold weight.

Don't

Emphasize text inside of paragraphs by underlining it; this can be confused with Link.

Use size to emphasize things like numbers that don’t define a page structure.

Don't

Use as section, page or surface titles to create a logical hierarchy. Use Heading instead.

Use a minimal amount of sizes and styles to keep the UI clean and readable.

Don't

Mix styles and alignment, as this can be hard to read and follow.

Start-align paragraph text.

Don't

Center-align paragraph text. This is hard to read, especially for users with dyslexia.

Gestalt's typography guidelines contain additional best practices around sizing, style and hierarchy. View Typography guidelines

Accessibility

Ready

Accessible sizing

A minimum text size of 16 px (12pt) is recommended for readability. Some short text labels, or secondary text can go lower than that, but smaller sizes should be kept to a minimum. Making text brief will also help with readability.

Accessible color

For low-vision users, text color contrast is very important. To insure accessible contrast, stick to our standard text colors. See our accessibility page for design considerations and handy accessibility tools for checking color contrast.

Localization

Keep text simple and short to avoid truncation or line wrapping in UI controls like buttons when translating languages that require more characters. Avoid overriding our line-height settings, as this can result in text clipping for scripts, like Hindi, that have taller ascenders and descenders.

Text-wrapping and hyphenation

Hyphenation on iOS is turned off by default to avoid incorrect word breaks when strings of text wrap to the next line. This is especially helpful for international languages where an incorrect word break can greatly change the meaning of a word or sentence.

Variants

Alignment

Use align to adjust the positioning of text within wrapper elements.

<Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 4, row: 0 }} width={200}>
  <Text align="start">Start (default)</Text>
  <Divider />
  <Text align="end">End</Text>
  <Divider />
  <Text align="center">Center</Text>
  <Divider />
  <Text align="forceLeft">Force left</Text>
  <Divider />
  <Text align="forceRight">Force right</Text>
</Flex>

<Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 4, row: 0 }} width={200}>
  <Text align="start">Start (default)</Text>
  <Divider />
  <Text align="end">End</Text>
  <Divider />
  <Text align="center">Center</Text>
  <Divider />
  <Text align="forceLeft">Force left</Text>
  <Divider />
  <Text align="forceRight">Force right</Text>
</Flex>

Block vs. inline

The Text component allows you to specify whether you want block or inline text.

<Flex alignItems="start" direction="column" gap={{ column: 4, row: 0 }}>
  <Text>Some content in a default block element. (default)</Text>
  <Box>
    <Text inline>Inline text with the inline prop.</Text>
    {' '}
    <Text inline>More inline text.</Text>
  </Box>
</Flex>

<Flex alignItems="start" direction="column" gap={{ column: 4, row: 0 }}>
  <Text>Some content in a default block element. (default)</Text>
  <Box>
    <Text inline>Inline text with the inline prop.</Text>
    {' '}
    <Text inline>More inline text.</Text>
  </Box>
</Flex>

Colors

You can specify which color you want for your text. Most colors change in dark mode, but light and dark are available when no switch is desired.

<Flex alignItems="start" direction="column" gap={{ column: 3, row: 0 }}>
    <Box color="inverse" padding={1}>
      <Text color="inverse" size="400">Inverse</Text>
    </Box>
    <Text color="subtle" size="400">Subtle</Text>
    <Text color="default" size="400">Default</Text>
    <Text color="success" size="400">Success</Text>
    <Text color="warning" size="400">Warning</Text>
    <Text color="error" size="400">Error</Text>
    <Text color="shopping" size="400">Shopping</Text>
    <Box color="primary" padding={1}>
      <Text color="light" size="400">Light</Text>
    </Box>
    <Box color="infoWeak" padding={1}>
      <Text color="dark" size="400">Dark</Text>
    </Box>
  </Flex>

<Flex alignItems="start" direction="column" gap={{ column: 3, row: 0 }}>
    <Box color="inverse" padding={1}>
      <Text color="inverse" size="400">Inverse</Text>
    </Box>
    <Text color="subtle" size="400">Subtle</Text>
    <Text color="default" size="400">Default</Text>
    <Text color="success" size="400">Success</Text>
    <Text color="warning" size="400">Warning</Text>
    <Text color="error" size="400">Error</Text>
    <Text color="shopping" size="400">Shopping</Text>
    <Box color="primary" padding={1}>
      <Text color="light" size="400">Light</Text>
    </Box>
    <Box color="infoWeak" padding={1}>
      <Text color="dark" size="400">Dark</Text>
    </Box>
  </Flex>

Overflow & truncation

Gestalt provides utility options to deal with text overflow.

<Flex maxWidth={200} direction="column" gap={{ column: 8, row: 0 }}>
  <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
    <Text>breakWord (default):</Text>
    <Box color="secondary" padding={2} rounding={2}>
      <Text>
        This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
        次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
      </Text>
    </Box>
  </Flex>

  <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
    <Text>normal:</Text>
    <Box color="secondary" padding={2} rounding={2}>
      <Text overflow="normal">
        This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
        次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
      </Text>
    </Box>
  </Flex>

  <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
  <Text>lineClamp:</Text>
    <Box color="secondary" padding={2} rounding={2}>
      <Text lineClamp={2}>
        This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
        次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
      </Text>
    </Box>
  </Flex>
</Flex>

<Flex maxWidth={200} direction="column" gap={{ column: 8, row: 0 }}>
  <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
    <Text>breakWord (default):</Text>
    <Box color="secondary" padding={2} rounding={2}>
      <Text>
        This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
        次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
      </Text>
    </Box>
  </Flex>

  <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
    <Text>normal:</Text>
    <Box color="secondary" padding={2} rounding={2}>
      <Text overflow="normal">
        This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
        次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
      </Text>
    </Box>
  </Flex>

  <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
  <Text>lineClamp:</Text>
    <Box color="secondary" padding={2} rounding={2}>
      <Text lineClamp={2}>
        This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
        次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
      </Text>
    </Box>
  </Flex>
</Flex>

Sizes

You can apply size options to define the size of the text. These font sizes follow those available through our Design Tokens. If your text needs to be a semantic heading (H1-H6), use Heading instead.

<Flex alignItems="start" direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="100">Size 100</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="100">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="200">Size 200</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="200">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="300">Size 300 (default size)</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="300">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="400">Size 400</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="400">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="500">Size 500</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="500">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="600">Size 600</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="600">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>
</Flex>

<Flex alignItems="start" direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="100">Size 100</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="100">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="200">Size 200</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="200">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="300">Size 300 (default size)</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="300">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="400">Size 400</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="400">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="500">Size 500</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="500">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>

  <Flex alignItems="center" gap={{ row: 2, column: 0 }}>
    <Text inline size="600">Size 600</Text>
    <span lang="ja">
      <Text inline size="600">
        こんにちは
      </Text>
    </span>
  </Flex>
</Flex>

Styles

There are multiple styles, such as bold and italic, that we can attach to the Text component.

<Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
  <Text weight="bold">Bold</Text>
  <Text italic>Italic</Text>
  <Text underline>Underline</Text>
</Flex>

<Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
  <Text weight="bold">Bold</Text>
  <Text italic>Italic</Text>
  <Text underline>Underline</Text>
</Flex>

Title

The title attribute on a <div> can be used to show the full text of a truncated string on hover. That attribute is populated automatically when the text is truncated using lineClamp, as long as children is a string.
If children is a React.Node (e.g. when using Link), use the title prop to manually set the title attribute.

<Flex alignItems="center" direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
  <Text size="200" weight="bold">
    Hover over the examples below for a few seconds to see the title text:
  </Text>

  <Box borderStyle="sm" maxWidth={400} padding={1}>
    <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 3, row: 0 }}>
      <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 1, row: 0 }}>
        <Text italic size="100">
          This title attribute is automatically added because lineClamp is used and children is a string.
        </Text>
        <Text lineClamp={1}>
          This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
          次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
        </Text>
      </Flex>

      <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 1, row: 0 }}>
        <Text italic size="100">
          This example uses lineClamp but has no title attribute, because children is a React.Node.
        </Text>
        <Text lineClamp={1}>
          <Link href="#">
            This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
            次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
          </Link>
        </Text>
      </Flex>

      <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 1, row: 0 }}>
        <Text italic size="100">
          This example uses lineClamp and children is a React.Node, but uses the title prop.
        </Text>
        <Text
          lineClamp={1}
          title="This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence. 次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉"
        >
          <Link href="#">
            This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
            次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
          </Link>
        </Text>
      </Flex>
    </Flex>
  </Box>
</Flex>

<Flex alignItems="center" direction="column" gap={{ column: 2, row: 0 }}>
  <Text size="200" weight="bold">
    Hover over the examples below for a few seconds to see the title text:
  </Text>

  <Box borderStyle="sm" maxWidth={400} padding={1}>
    <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 3, row: 0 }}>
      <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 1, row: 0 }}>
        <Text italic size="100">
          This title attribute is automatically added because lineClamp is used and children is a string.
        </Text>
        <Text lineClamp={1}>
          This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
          次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
        </Text>
      </Flex>

      <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 1, row: 0 }}>
        <Text italic size="100">
          This example uses lineClamp but has no title attribute, because children is a React.Node.
        </Text>
        <Text lineClamp={1}>
          <Link href="#">
            This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
            次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
          </Link>
        </Text>
      </Flex>

      <Flex direction="column" gap={{ column: 1, row: 0 }}>
        <Text italic size="100">
          This example uses lineClamp and children is a React.Node, but uses the title prop.
        </Text>
        <Text
          lineClamp={1}
          title="This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence. 次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉"
        >
          <Link href="#">
            This is a long and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sentence.
            次の単語グレートブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国で本当に大きな言葉
          </Link>
        </Text>
      </Flex>
    </Flex>
  </Box>
</Flex>

Writing

Keep text in UI components short and clear
Use Sentence case for UI labels

Don't

Use long text labels that could end up truncating or causing space issues when translating to other languages
Use Title Case or ALL CAPS in UI labels
Use ALL CAPS for paragaph text unless referring to a product or other entity that uses that style

Heading
Heading allows you to add H1–H6 level text on a page. They are generally placed underneath a PageHeader, and provide you with a way to create a logical text hierarchy.

Typography guidelines
A run-down on our typographic foundations, with some guidelines for using Heading and Text components together in products.

Design tokens
Values for text sizes, weights, families and colors.

Link
Used as a text-only navigational element. Links usually appear within or directly following a paragraph or sentence.

Component quality checklist

Component quality checklist
Quality item	Status	Status description
Figma Library	Ready	Component is available in Figma across all platforms.
Responsive Web	Ready	Component is available in code for web and mobile web.
iOS		Component is not currently available in code for iOS.
Android		Component is not currently available in code for Android.

Edit page on GitHub

Text

Props

Usage guidelines

Best practices

Accessibility

Accessible sizing

Accessible color

Localization

Text-wrapping and hyphenation

Variants

Alignment

Block vs. inline

Colors

Overflow & truncation

Sizes

Styles

Title

Writing

Related

Component quality checklist