Web/CSS/caption-side

The caption-side CSS property puts the content of a table's <caption> on the specified side. The values are relative to the writing-mode of the table.

The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

Syntax

/* Directional values */ 
caption-side: top; 
caption-side: bottom; 

/* Warning: non-standard values */ 
caption-side: left; 
caption-side: right; 
caption-side: top-outside; 
caption-side: bottom-outside; 

/* Global values */ 
caption-side: inherit; 
caption-side: initial; 
caption-side: unset;

The caption-side property is specified as one of the keyword values listed below.

Values

top: The caption box should be positioned above the table.
bottom: The caption box should be positioned below the table.
left ': The caption box should be positioned on the left side of the table.; This value was proposed for CSS 2, but removed from the final CSS 2.1 specification. It is non-standard.
right ': The caption box should be positioned on the right side of the table.; This value was proposed for CSS 2, but removed from the final CSS 2.1 specification. It is non-standard.
top-outside ': The caption box should be positioned above the table, while the width and horizontal alignment behavior are not bound to the table's horizontal layout.; The CSS 2.1 specification notes that the CSS 2 specification described a different behavior for the top value, which will be reintroduced by this value in a future specification.
bottom-outside ': The caption box should be positioned below the table, while the width and horizontal alignment behavior are not bound to the table's horizontal layout.; The CSS 2.1 specification notes that the CSS 2 specification described a different behavior for the bottom value, which will be reintroduced by this value in a future specification.

Formal definition

Initial value	`top`
Applies to	table-caption elements
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

top | bottom | block-start | block-end | inline-start | inline-end

Examples

Setting captions above and below

HTML

<table class="top">
  <caption>Caption ABOVE the table</caption>
  <tr>
    <td>Some data</td>
    <td>Some more data</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<br>

<table class="bottom">
  <caption>Caption BELOW the table</caption>
  <tr>
    <td>Some data</td>
    <td>Some more data</td>
  </tr>
</table>

CSS

.top caption {
  caption-side: top;
}

.bottom caption {
  caption-side: bottom;
}

table {
  border: 1px solid red;
}

td {
  border: 1px solid blue;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Logical Properties and Values Level 1The definition of 'caption-side' in that specification.	Editor's Draft	Defines the `top` and `bottom` values as relative to the `writing-mode` value.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)The definition of 'caption-side' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`caption-side`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 8	Opera Full support 4	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support ≤37	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0
Non-standard values `left`, `right`, `top-outside`, and `bottom-outside` Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 1	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 4	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
`top` and `bottom` are relative to the `writing-mode` value	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 42	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 42	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.': Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.

caption-side by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.