Template:Dropinitial

Template documentation

Usage

This template is for creating the "drop initial" effect that is common in both modern and antiquated typography:

Used with parameters {{dropinitial|L|2.4em|0em|.05em}} within a block of Times New Roman text.

To use

{{dropinitial|content|font-size|margin-top|margin-right|margin-bottom|margin-left|fontfam=font-family|z-index=#}}.

The font-size parameter and margin value parameters should be specified with relative units, i.e. as a percent or in 'en' or 'em' units.

None of the parameters are necessary, in which case the defaults are:

• content = A
• font-size = 3em
• margin-right = .1em

Which should produce a drop initial approximately the height of two lines in the current Wikisource default font:

{{dropinitial|L}}{{Small-caps|orem}} ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis 
natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium 
quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, 
rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.

Notes :

Dropped initials are typically used with small capitals for the other letters of the word starting with this initial. See {{Small-caps}}.

Fonts can be rendered slightly differently in different browsers and on different operating systems. You may wish to check your work in Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, Windows Internet Explorer or other web browsers on different computers to ensure that the text wraps around the initial in the way you expect it to if you are not using the default values.

You can also use an image as the contents. When doing this,you should set the "alt" attribute to the letter in question. This allows people with text readers to see the text, and allows the text to be copied properly.

{{dropinitial|[[File:Chronica Polonorum L.jpg|50px|alt=L]]}}{{Small-caps|orem}} ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula
 eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis,
 ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec,
 vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.

orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.

Margin examples

Default	Top, 0.1em	Bottom, 1em	Left, −0.5em
orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.	orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.	orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.	orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.

Use with quotes

Occasionally these works will have a quote (") that appears with the drop initial. The means to handle this is like …

Correct:

{{float left|"}}{{dropinitial|P|4em}} gives

" P
Incorrect:

{{dropinitial|"P|4em}} gives

"P
This basically forces the quote before the drop initial coding. Extra formatting can be applied to the quote as required.

Typography notes

If you simply need to have an enlarged initial in a text, which is not dropped below the baseline, use the template {{largeinitial}}:

Lorem ipsum sit amet...

Technical notes

This template simply generates a left-floated span (w/style display: block;) containing content with the proper CSS styles applied to it. Unfortunately the CSS 3 styles specifically directed at formatting drop initials are not implemented in browsers at this point. In planning for the future this template applies a class "dropinitial" to the output span.

See also

• {{Largeinitial}}, for large initials that sit on the same baseline as surrounding text and extend upwards