Control changing numbers with font variant numeric

Published on by Andy Bell

Get the benefits of monospaced fonts with your favourite (supported) non-monospaced fonts.

Say you’ve got a countdown timer. The UI can jump around, depending on what sort of font you’re using, which can be a pain.

One option is to use monospaced fonts, but another smart approach is using font variant properties.

css
.my-tabular-element {
	font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;
}

As long as your font supports, it you can totally transform how numbers render in your chosen font. Some CDN fonts, like Google Fonts, strip this support out though, so remember that if it’s not working for you.