paint-order

The paint-order CSS property lets you control the order in which the fill and stroke (and painting markers) of text content and shapes are drawn.

Syntax

/* Normal */
paint-order: normal;

/* Single values */
paint-order: stroke; /* draw the stroke first, then fill and markers */
paint-order: markers; /* draw the markers first, then fill and stroke */

/* Multiple values */
paint-order: stroke fill; /* draw the stroke first, then the fill, then the markers */
paint-order: markers stroke fill; /* draw markers, then stroke, then fill */

If no value is specified, the default paint order is fill, stroke, markers.

When one value is specified, that one is painted first, followed by the other two in their default order relative to one another. When two values are specified, they will be painted in the order they are specified in, followed by the unspecified one.

Values

normal

Paint the different items in normal paint order.

stroke,
fill,
markers

Specify some or all of these values in the order you want them to be painted in.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

normal | [ fill | stroke | markers ]

Examples

Reversing the paint order of stroke and fill

SVG

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="400" height="200">
  <text x="10" y="75">stroke in front</text>
  <text x="10" y="150" class="stroke-behind">stroke behind</text>
</svg>

CSS

text {
  font-family: sans-serif;
  font-size: 50px;
  font-weight: bold;
  fill: black;
  stroke: red;
  stroke-width: 4px;
}

.stroke-behind {
  paint-order: stroke fill;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility