- Span tag
- A Span is an HTML tag used to restyle a portion of text within a sentence. In Webflow, Spans work within text set in Paragraph and Text elements.
How do Span tags work in Webflow?
How do you restyle just part of a sentence?
Can Rich text do partial styling at all?
This article answers all three:
- How to use Span tags in Webflow
- Why Rich text can't use Span tags
- How to restyle parts of Rich text anyway
I build websites with Webflow for a living, earning around ¥300,000 a month from it. This blog is built and managed in Webflow too, and every post here is written through the Rich text element — so this guide comes out of daily use.
Using Span tags in Webflow
What's a Span?
Span is an HTML tag used to restyle just a portion of text within a sentence.
Available in Paragraph and Text elements
In Webflow, Spans work mainly within text set in Paragraph and Text elements.
Click the paintbrush icon to add a Span; click the ✗A at far right to remove one.
Rich text can't use Spans
Webflow's Rich text doesn't support Spans (as of January 2022).
Copy-pasting a Paragraph's text together with its Span into Rich text adds one temporarily — but it becomes uneditable.
Restyling parts of Rich text anyway
Use Rich text's Bold and Italicize for partial styling.
It may feel like a hack, but it's fine for SEO — because in HTML these map to real tags:
- Bold = the strong tag
- Italicize = the em tag
The red (Bold) text carries strong; the yellow-underlined (italic) text carries em. Style each of those and you have partial styling inside Rich text.
strong vs. em
strong marks importance; em marks emphasis or a shift in tone. Search engines read the two differently.
Understand what the two tags mean and partial styling causes no SEO problems. Just use the tags correctly.
Summary
Rich text is convenient but accepts no class names or IDs, so some trial and error is inevitable.
Haven't tried Webflow yet? Register and poke around — then choose the no-code tool that fits you.
Frequently asked questions
Can Webflow's Rich text use Span tags?
No (as of January 2022). Copy-pasting Paragraph text with its Span into Rich text adds one temporarily, but it becomes uneditable.
How do I add a Span tag in Webflow?
Spans work in Paragraph and Text elements — click the paintbrush icon to add one, and the ✗A at far right to remove it.
How do I restyle part of Rich text?
Use Rich text's Bold and Italicize, which map to the strong and em HTML tags. Understand the two tags and it's SEO-safe.
