SVG Responsive Text

Question

I have an SVG within a web page, it consists of images + text

<object data="/infographic/timeline.svg" type="image/svg+xml">    
  <img src="/infographic/timeline.svg" alt="Timeline">
</object>

All the images are responsive, but the text isn't, so the text becomes really, REALLY small.

snippet of SVG (its massive)

  <defs>
    <style>
      .cls-1 {
        font-size: 60.014px;
      }

  .cls-1, .cls-10 {
    opacity: 0.69;
  }

  .cls-1, .cls-10, .cls-4, .cls-5, .cls-7, .cls-8, .cls-9 {
    fill: #ffffff;
  }

  .cls-1, .cls-10, .cls-3, .cls-4, .cls-5, .cls-6, .cls-7, .cls-9 {
    text-anchor: middle;
  }

  .cls-1, .cls-3, .cls-6 {
    font-family: "Roboto";
  }

  .cls-2 {
    font-size: 32.014px;
  }

  .cls-3 {
    font-size: 14.089px;
  }

  .cls-3, .cls-6 {
    fill: #db7426;
  }

  .cls-4, .cls-6 {
    font-size: 32px!important;
  }

  .cls-10, .cls-4, .cls-5, .cls-7, .cls-8, .cls-9 {
    font-family: Roboto;
  }

  .cls-5 {
    font-size: 24px;
  }

  .cls-5, .cls-8, .cls-9 {
    font-weight: 400;
  }

  .cls-6 {
    font-weight: 600;
  }

  .cls-10, .cls-7 {
    font-size: 18.75px;
    font-weight: 300;
  }

  .cls-7 {
    opacity: 0.4;
  }

  .cls-8, .cls-9 {
    font-size: 22px;
  }
 </style>
</defs>

<text id="Who_are_you_what_do_you_do_what_s_your_why_What_s_been_keepi" data-name="Who are you, what do you do, what’s your why? What’s been keepi" class="cls-8" x="397.706" y="535.325">Who are you, what do you do, what’s your why?<tspan x="397.706" dy="26.4">What’s been keeping you lying awake at night. </tspan></text>

Is there anyway I can get the text size to increase as the SVG/screen width gets smaller?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It's not possible with pure SVG (at least not yet). The only solution would be to either:

1. inline the SVG and manipulate the size of the text with javascript.

2. inline the SVG and control the size of the text with media queries (see below).

3. Add CSS to the SVG and use media queries there (see below).

4. use media queries to switch SVGs when the page gets small

Example of option 2: Using media queries with inlined SVGs

text {
  font-size: 10px;
}

@media (max-width: 400px) {
  text {
    font-size: 20px;
  }
}

<svg viewBox="0 0 100 100" width="100%" height="100%">
  <circle cx="50" cy="50" r="50" fill="orange"/>
  <text x="50" y="60" text-anchor="middle">Testing</text>
</svg>

Example of option 3: Using media queries in CSS in the SVGs

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 100 100" width="100%" height="100%">
  <style>
    text {
      font-size: 10px;
    }

    @media (max-width: 400px) {
      text {
        font-size: 20px;
      }
    }
  </style>
  <circle cx="50" cy="50" r="50" fill="orange"/>
  <text x="50" y="60" text-anchor="middle">Testing</text>
</svg>

Answer 2

This is possible using the foreignObject svg element in a html context and some adjustment of the viewBow.

On this demos, the text stay selectable:

.demo {
  overflow: auto;
  resize: both;
  border:1px black solid;
  width: 230px;
  height: 130px
}

.svgtext {
  font-size: 28rem;
  height:100%;
  width:100%
}

<div class="demo">

  <svg x="0" y="30" viewBox="0 0 100 100" width="100%" height="100%">
    <foreignObject x="12" y="23" height="100%" width="100%">
      <div class"svgtext">
        Hello world!
       </div>
     </foreignObject>
  </svg>

</div>

---

Use preserveAspectRatio to control the resizing behavior:

.demo {
  overflow: auto;
  resize: both;
  border:1px black solid;
  width: 230px;
  height: 130px
}

.svgtext {
  font-size: 28rem;
  height:100%;
  width:100%
}

<div class="demo">

  <svg preserveAspectRatio="none" x="0" y="30" viewBox="0 0 100 100" width="100%" height="100%">
    <foreignObject x="12" y="23" height="100%" width="100%">
      <div class"svgtext">
        Hello world!
       </div>
     </foreignObject>
  </svg>

</div>