Setting a Simple Initial Cap

You want a paragraph to begin with an initial cap. Mark up the paragraph of content with a p element:

Online, activity of exchanging ideas is sped up. The distribution of messages from the sellin of propaganda to the giving away of disinformation takes place at a blindingly fast pace thanks to the state of technology …

Use the pseudo-element :first-letter to stylize the first letter of the paragraph 

p:first-letter {
 font-size: 1.2em;
 background-color: black;
 color: white;
}

Figure 2-8. A simple initial cap


Discussion

The CSS specification offers an easy way to stylize the first letter in a paragraph as a traditional initial or drop cap: use the :first-letter pseudo-element.

:first-letter is supported in common modern browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 for Windows, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. For other browsers, a different approach may be needed.

Wrap a span element with a class attribute around the first letter of the first sentence of the first paragraph:

<p><span class="initcap">O</span>nline, activity of exchanging ideas is sped 
up. The distribution of messages from the selling of propaganda 
to the giving away of disinformation takes place at a blindingly 
fast pace thanks to the state of technology &hellip;</p>

Then set the style for the initial cap:

p .initcap {
 font-size: 1.2em;
 background-color: black;
 color: white; 
}

Initial caps, also known as versals, traditionally are enlarged in print to anything from a few points to three lines of text.