small element
Use small for secondary information such as copyright notices, disclaimers, or short notes that support the main content.
What you will learn
- What meaning the
smallelement adds - How to use it for copyright, legal notes, and form hints
- Why semantic meaning is different from merely shrinking text with CSS
What does small mean?
small marks side comments and fine print that are less central than the surrounding content. Browsers usually render it at a smaller relative size, but its main purpose is semantic: it identifies secondary information.
Copyright notice
<footer>
<small>© 2025 Your Company. All rights reserved.</small>
</footer>Common uses
Disclaimer and form hint
<p>This service is in beta.
<small>Details may change without notice.</small>
</p>
<label>
Email
<input type="email" required>
<small>Example: [email protected]</small>
</label>small or CSS?
Use CSS font-size when the goal is purely visual. Use small when the text is genuinely secondary information. Do not use it to make ordinary body text too tiny or to hide keywords.
- Keep enough contrast and line height for the text to remain readable.
- Do not nest many
smallelements; repeated size reduction quickly hurts readability. - Use
supfor superscript numbers andasidewhen a note is a separate block of content.
Readable fine print
small {
font-size: clamp(.8rem, .8em, .9rem);
line-height: 1.45;
}