wrap each character in span
HTML
<div id="demo-text">Test</div>
CSS
span{
border: 1px solid red;
background: black;
color: #fff;
display: inline-block;
padding: 10px;
}
JavaScript
var $demoText = $("#demo-text");
$demoText.html( $demoText.html().replace(/./g, "<span>$&</span>").replace(/\s/g, " "));