CSS pause-after

The CSS pause-after property is used in speech media to specify a prosodic boundary (a pause) after an element.

The pause-after property can help your listeners comprehend the content by allowing you to provide extra "space" after certain elements. For example, adding a slight pause after a main heading could help distinguish the heading from the following content while also communicating the significance of the heading.

The pause-after property can be seen as the speech media equivalent to the margin-bottom property in visual media.

Also see pause and pause-before.

Syntax

Possible Values

time: Expresses the pause in absolute time units (for example 50ms). Only non-negative values are allowed.
none: Equivalent to 0ms (no prosodic break is produced by the speech processor).
x-weak, weak, medium, strong, and x-strong: These values express the pause by the strength of the prosodic break in speech output. The exact time will depend on the output device/user agent being used.

In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:

initial: Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit: Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset: This value acts as either inherit or initial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.

General Information

Initial Value: none
Applies To: All elements.
Inherited?: No
Media: Speech

Example Code

Official Specifications

CSS Speech Module Level 1 (Editor's Draft)
CSS Speech Module Level 1 (W3C Candidate Recommendation)
CSS Level 2.1 (W3C Recommendation 07 June 2011)

"Pause" vs "Rest"

CSS3 includes "pause" properties and "rest" properties. Pauses are defined with the pause, pause-after, and pause-before properties. Rests are defined with rest, rest-after, and rest-before.

These "pause" and "rest" properties work in a similar way, however, they differ in where they're inserted.

The "pause" properties are placed outside of any cues that have been specified (i.e. using the cue, cue-before, or cue-after properties). So for example, any "pause before" is inserted between the preceding content and any "cue before". Likewise, any "pause after" is inserted between any "cue after" and the content that follows.

The "rest" properties are placed inside any cues. Therefore, a "rest before" will be inserted between any "cue before" and its subsequent content (and vice-versa for any "rest after").

CSS2

Note that in CSS2, the "pause" properties were placed inside any cues (like the CSS3 "rest" properties), however, this was changed in CSS3 to the placement mentioned above.

Browser Support

Browser support for CSS properties can vary, particularly for newer or experimental features. Check current browser compatibility before using a property in production, especially when supporting older browsers.

Initial Value

CSS properties have an initial value that applies when the property has not been explicitly set. The initial value is different from the value inherited from a parent element and may vary between properties.

Inheritance

Some CSS properties inherit their computed value from their parent element by default, while others do not. The inherit, initial, unset, and revert keywords can also be used to control how a property gets its value.

Vendor Prefixes

Most modern CSS properties use the standard, unprefixed syntax. Vendor-prefixed properties such as -webkit- are mainly relevant to older browser versions or specific features and should only be used when required by your browser support targets.