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Font Awesome Docs: Version 5

Configuration

Control features of Font Awesome SVG with JavaScript using the properties below.

Make sure you already:

Options

NameDefaultPurpose
autoA11ytrueAutomatically add accessibility features like aria-hidden?
autoAddCsstrueInsert the supporting CSS into the <head> of the HTML document?
autoReplaceSvgtrue*Set to true to replace any elements that look like icons with the inline SVG. Set to nest to insert SVGs as child elements.
familyPrefix'fa'Class prefix for icons and CSS styles like fa-spin
keepOriginalSourcetrueIf replacing with inline SVG keep an HTML comment <-- --> with the original markup
measurePerformancefalseFor supporting browsers, add markers in the Performance section of developer tools?
observeMutationstrue*Watch the DOM for any changes and add, replace, or modify icons on-the-fly
mutateApproachasyncversion >=5.8.0 Can be async or sync. If async will make replace icons using requestAnimationFrame
replacementClass'svg-inline--fa'Main CSS class for <svg> tags replacements. All replacements will have this class.
searchPseudoElementsfalseSearches for elements with a Font Awesome CSS family-name and content property and replaces with inline SVG
showMissingIconstrueIf an icon cannot be found show an animated “missing” icon in its place

Keep In Mind

Using the @fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core package disables autoReplaceSvg and observeMutations by default.

Accessing the configuration

When using the @fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core package:

import { config } from '@fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core'
console.log(config.autoA11y) // true

When using a package that provides access to the API through the browser:

<script>alert(window.FontAwesome.config)</script>

Setting the configuration

Setting just one option using @fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core:

import { config } from '@fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core'
config.autoA11y = true

Using a <script> tag in the browser:

<html>
  <head>
    <script
      src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js"
      data-auto-a11y="true"
    ></script>
  </head>
  <body></body>
</html>

You can also set configuration values to true by simply adding the attribute without a value.

<head>
  <!-- Notice how the data-search-pseudo-elements has no explicit value. This sets it to "true". -->
  <script
    src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js"
    data-search-pseudo-elements
  ></script>
</head>
<body></body>

If you can’t add any attributes to a <script> tag you can set the configuration like this:

<head>
  <script>
    <!-- The settings you provide will be merged with the default settings -->
    FontAwesomeConfig = {
      searchPseudoElements: true
    }
  </script>
  <script
    src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js"
  ></script>
</head>
<body></body>

autoAddCss

Font Awesome requires some base CSS styles to display icons at the correct color and size and to enable the other styling options. When this option is true (default) these styles are automatically inserted into the <head> of the DOM.

autoReplaceSvg

When true (default) this will cause Font Awesome to search through the DOM for any <i> tags and automatically replace them with <svg> tags.

<script src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js" data-auto-replace-svg></script>

For example this <i> tag:

<i class="fas fa-kiwi-bird"></i>

Will be replaced with this <svg> tag:

<svg aria-hidden="true" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="kiwi-bird" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 576 512" class="svg-inline--fa fa-kiwi-bird fa-w-18 fa-2x" data-fa-i2svg>
  <path fill="currentColor" d="M575.81 217.98C572.64 157.41 518.28 112 457.63 112h-9.37c-52.82 0-104.25-16.25-147.74-46.24-41.99-28.96-96.04-41.62-153.21-28.7C129.3 41.12-.08 78.24 0 224c.04 70.95 38.68 132.8 95.99 166.01V464c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h16c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-54.26c15.36 3.96 31.4 6.26 48 6.26 5.44 0 10.68-.73 16-1.18V464c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h16c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-59.43c14.24-5.06 27.88-11.39 40.34-19.51C342.07 355.25 393.86 336 448.46 336c25.48 0 16.01-.31 23.05-.78l74.41 136.44c2.86 5.23 8.3 8.34 14.05 8.34 1.31 0 2.64-.16 3.95-.5 7.09-1.8 12.05-8.19 12.05-15.5 0 0 .14-240.24-.16-246.02zM463.97 248c-13.25 0-24-10.75-24-24 0-13.26 10.75-24 24-24s24 10.74 24 24c0 13.25-10.75 24-24 24zm80 153.25l-39.86-73.08c15.12-5.83 28.73-14.6 39.86-25.98v99.06z"></path></svg>
<!-- <i class="fas fa-kiwi-bird"></i> -->

autoReplaceSvg through nesting

By default Font Awesome will replace elements. However, setting this value to nest will cause Font Awesome to add a child element to the existing <i> tag.

<script src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js" data-auto-replace-svg="nest"></script>

This <i> tag:

<i class="fas fa-kiwi-bird"></i>

Will be nested within the existing tag:

<i data-fa-i2svg>
  <svg aria-hidden="true" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="kiwi-bird" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 576 512" class="svg-inline--fa fa-kiwi-bird fa-w-18 fa-2x">
    <path fill="currentColor" d="M575.81 217.98C572.64 157.41 518.28 112 457.63 112h-9.37c-52.82 0-104.25-16.25-147.74-46.24-41.99-28.96-96.04-41.62-153.21-28.7C129.3 41.12-.08 78.24 0 224c.04 70.95 38.68 132.8 95.99 166.01V464c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h16c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-54.26c15.36 3.96 31.4 6.26 48 6.26 5.44 0 10.68-.73 16-1.18V464c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h16c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-59.43c14.24-5.06 27.88-11.39 40.34-19.51C342.07 355.25 393.86 336 448.46 336c25.48 0 16.01-.31 23.05-.78l74.41 136.44c2.86 5.23 8.3 8.34 14.05 8.34 1.31 0 2.64-.16 3.95-.5 7.09-1.8 12.05-8.19 12.05-15.5 0 0 .14-240.24-.16-246.02zM463.97 248c-13.25 0-24-10.75-24-24 0-13.26 10.75-24 24-24s24 10.74 24 24c0 13.25-10.75 24-24 24zm80 153.25l-39.86-73.08c15.12-5.83 28.73-14.6 39.86-25.98v99.06z"></path></svg>
</i>

Are you using the dom.i2svg() method?

The data-fa-i2svg attribute is used to denote and track any tag that has been modified by Font Awesome using the dom.i2svg() method. This allows the library to efficiently watch these for changes and to ignore them for other operations. You can use this data attribute to target nodes that have been modified by Font Awesome.

familyPrefix

Used to modify the family prefix for the icon names. By changing this from fa to icon we would replace fa-kiwi-bird with icon-kiwi-bird.

<script src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js" data-family-prefix="icon"></script>

To use the icon you would then use the following markup.

<i class="fas icon-kiwi-bird"></i>

Family vs. Style

It’s fairly common to confuse the family prefix for the icon with the style prefix which chooses solid, regular, light, or brands. Don’t let this trip you up!

keepOriginalSource

When using autoReplaceSvg or manually calling dom.i2svg() you have the option to retain the original <i> tag as a comment underneath the replacement <svg> tag. This is beneficial for debugging but does clutter the DOM a little.

<svg aria-hidden="true" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="kiwi-bird" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 576 512" class="svg-inline--fa fa-kiwi-bird fa-w-18 fa-2x" data-fa-i2svg>
  <path fill="currentColor" d="M575.81 217.98C572.64 157.41 518.28 112 457.63 112h-9.37c-52.82 0-104.25-16.25-147.74-46.24-41.99-28.96-96.04-41.62-153.21-28.7C129.3 41.12-.08 78.24 0 224c.04 70.95 38.68 132.8 95.99 166.01V464c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h16c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-54.26c15.36 3.96 31.4 6.26 48 6.26 5.44 0 10.68-.73 16-1.18V464c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h16c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-59.43c14.24-5.06 27.88-11.39 40.34-19.51C342.07 355.25 393.86 336 448.46 336c25.48 0 16.01-.31 23.05-.78l74.41 136.44c2.86 5.23 8.3 8.34 14.05 8.34 1.31 0 2.64-.16 3.95-.5 7.09-1.8 12.05-8.19 12.05-15.5 0 0 .14-240.24-.16-246.02zM463.97 248c-13.25 0-24-10.75-24-24 0-13.26 10.75-24 24-24s24 10.74 24 24c0 13.25-10.75 24-24 24zm80 153.25l-39.86-73.08c15.12-5.83 28.73-14.6 39.86-25.98v99.06z"></path>
</svg>
<i class="fas fa-kiwi-bird"></i>

You can change the default value of keepOriginalSource to false:

<script src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js" data-keep-original-source="false"></script>

Will prevent Font Awesome from adding the comment:

<svg aria-hidden="true" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="kiwi-bird" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 576 512" class="svg-inline--fa fa-kiwi-bird fa-w-18 fa-2x" data-fa-i2svg>
  <path fill="currentColor" d="M575.81 217.98C572.64 157.41 518.28 112 457.63 112h-9.37c-52.82 0-104.25-16.25-147.74-46.24-41.99-28.96-96.04-41.62-153.21-28.7C129.3 41.12-.08 78.24 0 224c.04 70.95 38.68 132.8 95.99 166.01V464c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h16c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-54.26c15.36 3.96 31.4 6.26 48 6.26 5.44 0 10.68-.73 16-1.18V464c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h16c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-59.43c14.24-5.06 27.88-11.39 40.34-19.51C342.07 355.25 393.86 336 448.46 336c25.48 0 16.01-.31 23.05-.78l74.41 136.44c2.86 5.23 8.3 8.34 14.05 8.34 1.31 0 2.64-.16 3.95-.5 7.09-1.8 12.05-8.19 12.05-15.5 0 0 .14-240.24-.16-246.02zM463.97 248c-13.25 0-24-10.75-24-24 0-13.26 10.75-24 24-24s24 10.74 24 24c0 13.25-10.75 24-24 24zm80 153.25l-39.86-73.08c15.12-5.83 28.73-14.6 39.86-25.98v99.06z"></path>
</svg>

observeMutations

When your project first loads and you have enabled autoReplaceSvg, Font Awesome will search through your document for <i> tags and replace them with SVG icons.

When additional changes occur to the page, through user interaction or by other means, and icons are modified or they are added to the page by placing more <i> tags in the DOM Font Awesome needs to kick into gear again and do the same type of work it did when the page first loaded.

You can tell Font Awesome to watch your page for changes using MutationObservers by setting observeMutations to true (default).

<script src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js" data-observe-mutations></script>

Internet Explorer Users

Keep in mind that version 10 of IE does not support the MutationObserver object.

mutateApproach

Replacing icons with SVG actually happens in two steps:

  1. Icons are parsed to pull out information such as icon name, style, and any additional stuff like Power Transforms
  2. The necessary DOM changes are queued in a JavaScript array

The reason this happens in two steps is to reduce jank: the costly and visual reduction of performance as your page renders.

After the array of DOM changes are computed they are, by default, registered in a function to be ran by calling window.requestAnimationFrame(). This optimizes the changes in the DOM to a period of time in the browser’s lifecyle that makes it the most effecient.

While this does increase performance it can cause a flash in the browser when the icons render since the rendering is asynchronous.

In some environments this is not desirable and taking the additional performance hit of rendering the icons synchronously is worth the performance degradation.

To force Font Awesome to immediately make the DOM changes after an icon is found for replacement you can use sync.

<script src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js" data-mutate-approach="sync"></script>

searchPseudoElements

Using Pseudo-elements with JavaScript is not recommended

Although you can use pseudo-elements with SVG and JS we do not recommend using this method. It does not provide as many usage options, is difficult to configure, and is the slowest method of using Font Awesome. (Painfully slow in some cases.)

By enabling searchPseudoElements to true (it’s false by default) you can have Font Awesome search your DOM for any elements that have:

  1. A Font Awesome matching font-family
  2. A content property
<head>
  <script src="https://example.com/fontawesome/vVERSION/js/all.js" data-search-pseudo-elements></script>
  <style>
  .glasses::before {
    display: none;
    font-family: 'Font Awesome 5 Solid';
    content: "\f530";
  }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <span class="glasses"></span>
</body>

Valid font-family values are: Font Awesome 5 Solid, Font Awesome 5 Regular, Font Awesome 5 Light, and Font Awesome 5 Brands.

showMissingIcons

To help with debugging missing icons or mistyped icon names you can use showMissingIcons set to true (default) which will show a missing icon indicator. Here’s an example:

<i class="fas fa-flaun-awesome"></i>