diff --git a/R/cell_spec.R b/R/cell_spec.R
index 0f55d31..4fa5895 100644
--- a/R/cell_spec.R
+++ b/R/cell_spec.R
@@ -1,37 +1,41 @@
-#' Specify Cell format
+#' Specify Cell/Text format
 #'
 #' @description Specify Cell format before it gets into kable
 #'
 #' @param x Things to be formated. It could be a vector of numbers or strings.
 #' @param format Either "html" or "latex". It can also be set through
 #' `option(knitr.table.format)`, same as `knitr::kable()`.
-#' @param bold A T/F value to control whether the text of the selected column
-#' need to be bolded.
-#' @param italic A T/F value to control whether the text of the selected column
-#' need to be emphasized.
-#' @param monospace A T/F value to control whether the text of the selected column
-#' need to be monospaced (verbatim)
-#' @param color A character string for column text color. Here please pay
+#' @param bold T/F for font bold.
+#' @param italic T/F for font italic.
+#' @param monospace T/F for font monospaced (verbatim)
+#' @param color A character string for text color. Here please pay
 #' attention to the differences in color codes between HTML and LaTeX.
-#' @param background A character string for column background color. Here please
-#' pay attention to the differences in color codes between HTML and LaTeX.
-#' @param align A character string for cell alignment. For HTML, possible values could
-#' be `l`, `c`, `r` plus `left`, `center`, `right`, `justify`, `initial` and `inherit`
-#' while for LaTeX, you can only choose from `l`, `c` & `r`.
-#' @param font_size Only if you want to specify font size locally in HTML.
-#' This feature is not available in LaTeX
+#' @param background A character string for background color. Here please
+#' pay attention to the differences in color codes between HTML and LaTeX. Also
+#' note that in HTML, background defined in cell_spec won't cover the whole
+#' cell.
+#' @param align A character string for cell alignment. For HTML, possible
+#' values could be `l`, `c`, `r` plus `left`, `center`, `right`, `justify`,
+#' `initial` and `inherit` while for LaTeX, you can only choose
+#' from `l`, `c` & `r`.
+#' @param font_size j
 #' @param angle 0-360, degree that the text will rotate. Can be a vector.
 #' @param tooltip A vector of strings to be displayed as tooltip.
-#' Of course, this feature is only available in HTML.
+#' Obviously, this feature is only available in HTML.
 #' @param background_as_tile T/F value indicating if you want to have round
-#' cornered tile as background.
+#' cornered tile as background in HTML.
+#' @param latex_background_in_cell T/F value. It only takes effect in LaTeX
+#' when `background` provided, Default value is `TRUE`. If it's `TRUE`, the
+#' background only works in a table cell. If it's `FALSE`, it works outside of a
+#' table environment.
 #'
 #' @export
 cell_spec <- function(x, format,
                       bold = F, italic = F, monospace = F,
                       color = NULL, background = NULL,
                       align = NULL, font_size = NULL, angle = NULL,
-                      tooltip = NULL, background_as_tile = TRUE) {
+                      tooltip = NULL, background_as_tile = TRUE,
+                      latex_background_in_cell = TRUE) {
 
   if (missing(format) || is.null(format)) format = getOption('knitr.table.format')
   if (is.null(format)) {
@@ -46,7 +50,8 @@
   }
   if (tolower(format) == "latex") {
     return(cell_spec_latex(x, bold, italic, monospace,
-                           color, background, align, angle))
+                           color, background, align, font_size, angle,
+                           latex_background_in_cell))
   }
 }
 
@@ -72,32 +77,34 @@
     cell_style <- paste0(cell_style, "text-align: ", align, ";")
   }
   if (!is.null(font_size)) {
-    cell_style <- paste0(cell_style, "font-size: ", font_size, "px;")
+    if (is.numeric) font_size <- paste0(font_size, "px")
+    cell_style <- paste0(cell_style, "font-size: ", font_size, ";")
   }
-  if (!is.null(angle)) {
-    cell_style <- paste0(cell_style,
-                         "-webkit-transform: rotate(", angle,
-                         "deg); -moz-transform: rotate(", angle,
-                         "deg); -ms-transform: rotate(", angle,
-                         "deg); -o-transform: rotate(", angle,
-                         "deg); transform: rotate(", angle,
-                         "deg);")
-  }
-
   if (!is.null(tooltip)) {
     tooltip <- gsub("\n", "&#013;", tooltip)
     tooltip <- paste0("data-toggle='tooltip' title='", tooltip, "'")
   }
   out <- paste0(
-    '<div style="', cell_style, '"', tooltip, '>', x, '</div>'
+    '<span style="', cell_style, '"', tooltip, '>', x, '</span>'
   )
+
+  if (!is.null(angle)) {
+    rotate_css <- paste0("-webkit-transform: rotate(", angle,
+                         "deg); -moz-transform: rotate(", angle,
+                         "deg); -ms-transform: rotate(", angle,
+                         "deg); -o-transform: rotate(", angle,
+                         "deg); transform: rotate(", angle,
+                         "deg);")
+    out <- paste0('<div style="', rotate_css, '">', out, '</div>')
+  }
   return(out)
 }
 
 cell_spec_latex <- function(x, bold, italic, monospace,
-                            color, background, align, angle) {
+                            color, background, align, font_size, angle,
+                            latex_background_in_cell) {
   if (bold) x <- paste0("\\bfseries{", x, "}")
-  if (italic) x <-paste0("\\em{", x, "}")
+  if (italic) x <- paste0("\\em{", x, "}")
   if (monospace) x <- paste0("\\ttfamily{", x, "}")
   if (!is.null(color)) {
     color <- latex_color(color)
@@ -105,9 +112,27 @@
   }
   if (!is.null(background)) {
     background <- latex_color(background)
-    x <- paste0("\\cellcolor", background, "{", x, "}")
+    background_env <- ifelse(latex_background_in_cell, "cellcolor", "colorbox")
+    x <- paste0("\\", background_env, background, "{", x, "}")
   }
-  if (!is.null(align)) x <- paste0("\\multicolumn{1}{", align, "}{", x, "}")
+  if (!is.null(font_size)) {
+    x <- paste0("\\begingroup\\fontsize{", font_size, "}{", as.numeric(font_size) + 2,
+           "}\\selectfont ", x, "\\endgroup")
+  }
   if (!is.null(angle)) x <- paste0("\\rotatebox{", angle, "}{", x, "}")
+  if (!is.null(align)) x <- paste0("\\multicolumn{1}{", align, "}{", x, "}")
   return(x)
 }
+
+#' @rdname cell_spec
+#' @export
+text_spec <- function(x, format,
+                      bold = F, italic = F, monospace = F,
+                      color = NULL, background = NULL,
+                      align = NULL, font_size = NULL, angle = NULL,
+                      tooltip = NULL, background_as_tile = TRUE,
+                      latex_background_in_cell = FALSE) {
+  cell_spec(x, format, bold, italic, monospace, color, background, align,
+            font_size, angle, tooltip, background_as_tile,
+            latex_background_in_cell)
+}