The writing-mode
CSS property sets whether lines of text are laid out horizontally or vertically, as well as the direction in which blocks progress. When set for an entire document, it should be set on the root element (html
element for HTML documents).
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This property specifies the block flow direction, which is the direction in which block-level containers are stacked, and the direction in which inline-level content flows within a block container. Thus, it also determines the ordering of block-level content.
Syntax
/* Keyword values */ writing-mode: horizontal-tb; writing-mode: vertical-rl; writing-mode: vertical-lr; /* Global values */ writing-mode: inherit; writing-mode: initial; writing-mode: unset;
The writing-mode
property is specified as one of the values listed below. The flow direction in horizontal scripts is also affected by the directionality of that script, either left-to-right (ltr
, like English and most other languages) or right-to-left (rtl
, like Hebrew or Arabic).
Values
horizontal-tb
- For
ltr
scripts, content flows horizontally from left to right. Forrtl
scripts, content flows horizontally from right to left. The next horizontal line is positioned below the previous line. vertical-rl
- For
ltr
scripts, content flows vertically from top to bottom, and the next vertical line is positioned to the left of the previous line. Forrtl
scripts, content flows vertically from bottom to top, and the next vertical line is positioned to the right of the previous line. vertical-lr
- For
ltr
scripts, content flows vertically from top to bottom, and the next vertical line is positioned to the right of the previous line. Forrtl
scripts, content flows vertically from bottom to top, and the next vertical line is positioned to the left of the previous line. sideways-rl
- For
ltr
scripts, content flows vertically from bottom to top. Forrtl
scripts, content flows vertically from top to bottom. All the glyphs, even those in vertical scripts, are set sideways toward the right. sideways-lr
- For
ltr
scripts, content flows vertically from top to bottom. Forrtl
scripts, content flows vertically from bottom to top. All the glyphs, even those in vertical scripts, are set sideways toward the left. lr
- Deprecated except for SVG1 documents. For CSS, use
horizontal-tb
instead. lr-tb
- Deprecated except for SVG1 documents. For CSS, use
horizontal-tb
instead. rl
- Deprecated except for SVG1 documents. For CSS, use
horizontal-tb
instead. tb
- Deprecated except for SVG1 documents. For CSS, use
vertical-lr
instead. tb-lr
- Deprecated except for SVG1 documents. For CSS, use
vertical-lr
instead. tb-rl
- Deprecated except for SVG1 documents. For CSS, use
vertical-rl
instead.
Formal definition
Initial value | horizontal-tb |
---|---|
Applies to | all elements except table row groups, table column groups, table rows, and table columns |
Inherited | yes |
Computed value | as specified |
Animation type | discrete |
Formal syntax
horizontal-tb | vertical-rl | vertical-lr | sideways-rl | sideways-lr
Examples
Using multiple writing modes
This example demonstrates all of the writing modes, showing each with text in various languages.
HTML
The HTML is a <table>
with each writing mode in a row with a column showing text in various scripts using that writing mode.
<table> <tr> <th>Value</th> <th>Vertical script</th> <th>Horizontal (LTR) script</th> <th>Horizontal (RTL) script</th> <th>Mixed script</th> </tr> <tr> <td>horizontal-tb</td> <td class="example Text1"><span>ๆๅฎถๆฒกๆ็ต่ใ</span></td> <td class="example Text1"><span>Example text</span></td> <td class="example Text1"><span>ืืื ืืจืื ืืืืืื</span></td> <td class="example Text1"><span>1994ๅนดใซ่ณใฃใฆใฏ</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>vertical-lr</td> <td class="example Text2"><span>ๆๅฎถๆฒกๆ็ต่ใ</span></td> <td class="example Text2"><span>Example text</span></td> <td class="example Text2"><span>ืืื ืืจืื ืืืืืื</span></td> <td class="example Text2"><span>1994ๅนดใซ่ณใฃใฆใฏ</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>vertical-rl</td> <td class="example Text3"><span>ๆๅฎถๆฒกๆ็ต่ใ</span></td> <td class="example Text3"><span>Example text</span></td> <td class="example Text3"><span>ืืื ืืจืื ืืืืืื</span></td> <td class="example Text3"><span>1994ๅนดใซ่ณใฃใฆใฏ</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>sideways-lr</td> <td class="example Text4"><span>ๆๅฎถๆฒกๆ็ต่ใ</span></td> <td class="example Text4"><span>Example text</span></td> <td class="example Text4"><span>ืืื ืืจืื ืืืืืื</span></td> <td class="example Text4"><span>1994ๅนดใซ่ณใฃใฆใฏ</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>sideways-rl</td> <td class="example Text5"><span>ๆๅฎถๆฒกๆ็ต่ใ</span></td> <td class="example Text5"><span>Example text</span></td> <td class="example Text5"><span>ืืื ืืจืื ืืืืืื</span></td> <td class="example Text5"><span>1994ๅนดใซ่ณใฃใฆใฏ</span></td> </tr> </table>
CSS
Some preparatory CSS just to make things look a little better:
table { border-collapse:collapse; } td, th { border: 1px black solid; padding: 3px; } th { background-color: lightgray; } .example { height:75px; width:75px; }
The CSS that adjusts the directionality of the content looks like this:
.example.Text1 span, .example.Text1 { writing-mode: horizontal-tb; -webkit-writing-mode: horizontal-tb; -ms-writing-mode: horizontal-tb; } .example.Text2 span, .example.Text2 { writing-mode: vertical-lr; -webkit-writing-mode: vertical-lr; -ms-writing-mode: vertical-lr; } .example.Text3 span, .example.Text3 { writing-mode: vertical-rl; -webkit-writing-mode: vertical-rl; -ms-writing-mode: vertical-rl; } .example.Text4 span, .example.Text4 { writing-mode: sideways-lr; -webkit-writing-mode: sideways-lr; -ms-writing-mode: sideways-lr; } .example.Text5 span, .example.Text5 { writing-mode: sideways-rl; -webkit-writing-mode: sideways-rl; -ms-writing-mode: sideways-rl; }
Result
This image shows what the output should look like, in case your browser's support for writing-mode
is incomplete:
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
CSS Writing Modes Level 4 The definition of 'writing-mode' in that specification. |
Candidate Recommendation | Add sideways-lr and sideways-rl |
CSS Writing Modes Module Level 3 The definition of 'writing-mode' in that specification. |
Proposed Recommendation | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
writing-mode | Chrome
Full support
48
| Edge
Full support
12
| Firefox
Full support
41
| IE
Full support
9
| Opera
Full support
35
| Safari
Full support
10.1
| WebView Android
Full support
48
| Chrome Android
Full support
48
| Firefox Android
Full support
41
| Opera Android
Full support
35
| Safari iOS
Full support
10.3
| Samsung Internet Android
Full support
5.0
|
horizontal-tb , vertical-lr , and vertical-rl | Chrome Full support 48 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 43 | IE No support No | Opera Full support 35 | Safari Full support 9 | WebView Android Full support 48 | Chrome Android Full support 48 | Firefox Android Full support 43 | Opera Android Full support 35 | Safari iOS Full support 9 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0 |
sideways-lr and sideways-rl | Chrome No support No | Edge No support No | Firefox Full support 43 | IE No support No | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android No support No | Chrome Android No support No | Firefox Android Full support 43 | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android No support No |
lr , lr-tb , rl , rl-tb , tb , and tb-rl | Chrome Full support 48 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 43 | IE
Full support
9
| Opera Full support 35 | Safari Full support 10.1 | WebView Android Full support 48 | Chrome Android Full support 48 | Firefox Android Full support 43 | Opera Android Full support 35 | Safari iOS Full support 10.3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.
- User must explicitly enable this feature.
- User must explicitly enable this feature.
- Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.
- Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.
See also
- SVG
writing-mode
attribute direction
unicode-bidi
text-orientation
text-combine-upright
- CSS Logical properties
- Styling vertical text (Chinse, Japanese, Korean and Mongolian)
- Extensive browsers support test results: https://w3c.github.io/i18n-tests/results/writing-mode-vertical