HTML <figcaption> Tag

The <figcaption> tag is one of the HTML5 elements. It is used to add a caption or explanations to the contents of the <figure> tag. The <figcaption> is included in the <figure> and is placed as the first or last child element. If the <figcaption> is the first embedded element, then the content will be displayed at the top of the image.

You can use only one <figcaption> in the <figure> element. However, the <figure> can contain other tags too (<img> tag or <code>).

Syntax

The <figcaption> tag comes in pairs. The content is written between the opening <figcaption> and closing (</figcaption>) tags.

Example of the HTML <figcaption> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p>Image of a baby</p>
    <figure>
      <img src="/uploads/media/default/0001/01/25acddb3da54207bc6beb5838f65f022feaa81d7.jpeg" alt="A Cute Baby" width="250" height="200">
      <figcaption>Fig.1 – Cute baby</figcaption>
    </figure>
  </body>
</html>

Result

figcaption example

Attributes

The<figcaption> tag supports the Global Attributes and the Event Attributes.

How to style <figcaption> tag?

Common properties to alter the visual weight/emphasis/size of text in <figcaption> tag:

  • CSS font-style property sets the style of the font. normal | italic | oblique | initial | inherit.
  • CSS font-family property specifies a prioritized list of one or more font family names and/or generic family names for the selected element.
  • CSS font-size property sets the size of the font.
  • CSS font-weight property defines whether the font should be bold or thick.
  • CSS text-transform property controls text case and capitalization.
  • CSS text-decoration property specifies the decoration added to text, and is a shorthand property for text-decoration-line, text-decoration-color, text-decoration-style.

Coloring text in <figcaption> tag:

  • CSS color property describes the color of the text content and text decorations.
  • CSS background-color property sets the background color of an element.

Text layout styles for <figcaption> tag:

  • CSS text-indent property specifies the indentation of the first line in a text block.
  • CSS text-overflow property specifies how overflowed content that is not displayed should be signalled to the user.
  • CSS white-space property specifies how white-space inside an element is handled.
  • CSS word-break property specifies where the lines should be broken.

Other properties worth looking at for <figcaption> tag:

Browser support

chrome firefox safari opera
6+ 4+ 5+ 11.1+

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