This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for usage in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the specification changes.
Summary
The text-orientation CSS property defines the orientation of the text in a line. This property only has an effect in vertical mode, that is when writing-mode is not horizontal-tb. It is useful to control the display of writing in languages using vertical script, but also to deal with vertical table headers.
| Initial value | mixed |
|---|---|
| Applies to | all elements, except table row groups, rows, column groups, and columns |
| Inherited | yes |
| Media | visual |
| Computed value | as specified |
| Animation type | discrete |
| Canonical order | the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar |
Syntax
/* Keyword values */ text-orientation: mixed; text-orientation: upright; text-orientation: sideways-right; text-orientation: sideways-left; text-orientation: sideways; text-orientation: use-glyph-orientation; /* Global values */ text-orientation: inherit; text-orientation: initial; text-orientation: unset;
Values
mixed- This keyword leads to have characters for horizontal-only scripts being turned 90°, while the glyphs for vertical scripts are laid out naturally.
upright- This keyword leads to have characters for horizontal-only scripts to be laid out naturally (upright), as well as the glyphs for vertical scripts. Note that this keyword lead all characters to be considered as ltr: the used value of
directionisltr, whatever the user could try to set it to. sideways- This keyword leads to have characters laid out like if they were laid out horizontally, but with the whole line rotated 90° to the right if
writing-modeisvertical-rlor to the left, if it isvertical-lr. sideways-right- An alias to
sidewaysthat is kept for compatibility purpose. use-glyph-orientation- On SVG elements, this keyword leads to use the value of the deprecated SVG properties
glyph-orientation-verticalandglyph-orientation-horizontal.
Formal syntax
mixed | upright | sideways
Examples
.myText {
writing-mode: vertical-rl;
text-orientation: sideways-right;
}
Specification
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| CSS Writing Modes Module Level 3 The definition of 'text-orientation' in that specification. |
Candidate Recommendation | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
| Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari (WebKit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) -webkit 48.0 (unprefixed) |
41 (41)[1] | No support | (Yes) -webkit | No support |
sideways |
No support | 44 (44)[2] | No support | No support | No support |
| Feature | Android | Android Webview | Chrome for Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Phone | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | No support | 48.0 (unprefixed) | 48.0 (unprefixed) | 41.0 (41)[1] | No support | No support | No support |
sideways |
No support | No support | No support | 44.0 (44)[2] | No support | No support | No support |
[1] Available since Gecko 38, but behind the preference layout.css.vertical-text.enabled, then disabled by default. The preference has been removed in Gecko 51 and this property cannot be disabled since this version.
[2] sideways-right has been made an alias of sideways.
See also
- The other vertical-script related CSS properties:
writing-mode,text-combine-upright, andunicode-bidi.