Question 1

How does small text work without a font size setting?

Accepted Answer

Unicode has small raised letters, called superscripts, that were made for phonetics and maths: ᵃ, ᵇ, ᶜ and so on. They're characters of their own, so they stay small anywhere you paste them, even in apps with no formatting at all.

Question 2

Why do some capital letters come out lowercase?

Accepted Answer

Unicode has small raised capitals for most letters but not for C, F, Q, S, X, Y or Z. Those turn into the small lowercase version instead, so a word still reads correctly. The tiny q is a lookalike from another alphabet, as Unicode has no superscript q.

Question 3

Is there a small text that isn't raised?

Accepted Answer

Yes: small capitals, like ꜱᴍᴀʟʟ ᴄᴀᴘꜱ, sit on the line at the height of lowercase letters. Use the small caps generator for those.

Question 4

Can everyone read tiny text?

Accepted Answer

Not everyone. It's hard to read on small screens, and screen readers may read the letters out one by one. Keep it to a few words, like a tagline or a soft aside, and write the important part in normal text.

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