<!DOCTYPE html>
<style>
    .ref span { display:inline-block; width:1em; }
</style>
<p>Test insertion of a spanner before column content.</p>
<p>There should be two lines below with the word "PASS". Letter spacing is expected to
    vary. The first word should be in <span style="color:blue;">blue</span>. The second one
    in <span style="color:olive;">olive</span>.</p>
<div style="color:blue;">PASS</div>
<div class="ref" style="color:olive;">
    <span>P</span><span>A</span><span>S</span><span>S</span>
</div>