These keywords define whether an element generates display boxes at all.
Syntax
Valid <display-box>
values:
contents
- These elements don't produce a specific box by themselves. They are replaced by their pseudo-box and their child boxes. Please note that the CSS Display Level 3 spec defines how the
contents
value should affect "unusual elements" — elements that arenβt rendered purely by CSS box concepts such as replaced elements. See Appendix B: Effects of display: contents on Unusual Elements for more details.
Due to a bug in browsers this will currently remove the element from the accessibility tree — screen readers will not look at what's inside. See the Accessibility concerns section below for more details. none
- Turns off the display of an element so that it has no effect on layout (the document is rendered as though the element did not exist). All descendant elements also have their display turned off.
To have an element take up the space that it would normally take, but without actually rendering anything, use thevisibility
property instead.
Accessibility concerns
Current implementations in most browsers will remove from the accessibility tree any element with a display
value of contents
. This will cause the element — and in some browser versions, its descendant elements — to no longer be announced by screen reading technology. This is incorrect behavior according to the CSSWG specification.
- More accessible markup with display: contents | Hidde de Vries
- Display: Contents Is Not a CSS Reset | Adrian Roselli
Examples
In this first example, the paragraph with a class of secret is set to display: none
; the box and any content is now not rendered.
display: none
HTML
<p>Visible text</p> <p class="secret">Invisible text</p>
CSS
p.secret { display: none; }
Result
display: contents
In this example the outer <div>
has a 2-pixel red border and a width of 300px. However it also has display: contents
specified therefore this <div>
will not be rendered, the border and width will no longer apply, and the child element will be displayed as if the parent had never existed.
HTML
<div class="outer"> <div>Inner div.</div> </div>
CSS
.outer { border: 2px solid red; width: 300px; display: contents; } .outer > div { border: 1px solid green; }
Result
Specifications
Specification | Status |
---|---|
CSS Display Module Level 3 The definition of 'display-box' in that specification. |
Candidate Recommendation |
Browser compatibility
Support of contents
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
contents | Chrome
Full support
65
| Edge Full support 79 | Firefox
Full support
37
| IE No support No | Opera
Full support
52
| Safari Full support 11.1 | WebView Android Full support 65 | Chrome Android
Full support
65
| Firefox Android Full support 57 | Opera Android
Full support
47
| Safari iOS Full support 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0 |
Specific behavior of unusual elements when display: contents is applied to them | Chrome Full support 58 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 59 | IE No support No | Opera Full support 45 | Safari No support No | WebView Android Full support 65 | Chrome Android Full support 58 | Firefox Android Full support 59 | Opera Android Full support 43 | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- User must explicitly enable this feature.
- User must explicitly enable this feature.