Description

The <big> tag increases the text font size by one size bigger than a document's base font size; for example, from small to medium, or from large to x-large. Each nested big element will further increase the size by one size bigger.

You must specify the dir attribute on this element. This mandatory attribute specifies the base direction of the element's text content, which overrides the inherent directionality of characters as defined in [UNICODE].

The following table summarizes the usages context and the version history of this tag.

Placement:Inline
Content:Inline and text
Start/ End Tag:Start tag: required, End tag: required
Version:HTML 3, 3.2, 4, 4.01, 5

Warning: As it was purely presentational, this tag has been removed in HTML5 and shouldn't be used anymore. You should use CSS font properties, instead.

Syntax

The base syntax of the <big> tag is given with:

HTML/XHTML: <big> ... </big>

The example below shows the <big> tag in action.

<!--Example of bad usage. Don't use this tag-->
<p>It's<big>big<big>bigger<big>biggest</big></big></big></p>
<!--Alternative-->
<p style="font-size:large;">This is a sample text.</p>

Tip: Use CSS font-size property to specify the font size for the text in a document. See the tutorial on CSS Fonts to learn more about font styling.

Tag-Specific Attributes

The <big> tag doesn't have any specific attribute.

Global Attributes

Like all other HTML tags, the <big> tag supports the globigal Attributes in HTML5.

Event Attributes

The <big> tag also supports the event Attributes in HTML5.

Browser Compatibility

Element
<big>YesYesYesYesYes