Web/CSS/text-orientation

The text-orientation CSS property sets the orientation of the text characters in a line. It only affects text in vertical mode (when writing-mode is not horizontal-tb). It is useful for controlling the display of languages that use vertical script, and also for making vertical table headers.

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Syntax

/* Keyword values */
text-orientation: mixed;
text-orientation: upright;
text-orientation: sideways-right;
text-orientation: sideways;
text-orientation: use-glyph-orientation;

/* Global values */
text-orientation: inherit;
text-orientation: initial;
text-orientation: unset;

The text-orientation property is specified as a single keyword from the list below.

Values

mixed: Rotates the characters of horizontal scripts 90° clockwise. Lays out the characters of vertical scripts naturally. Default value.
upright: Lays out the characters of horizontal scripts naturally (upright), as well as the glyphs for vertical scripts. Note that this keyword causes all characters to be considered as left-to-right: the used value of direction is forced to be ltr.
sideways: Causes characters to be laid out as they would be horizontally, but with the whole line rotated 90° clockwise.
sideways-right: An alias to sideways that is kept for compatibility purposes.
use-glyph-orientation: On SVG elements, this keyword leads to use the value of the deprecated SVG properties glyph-orientation-vertical and glyph-orientation-horizontal.

Formal definition

Initial value	`mixed`
Applies to	all elements, except table row groups, rows, column groups, and columns
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

mixed | upright | sideways

Examples

HTML

<p>Lorem ipsum dolet semper quisquam.</p>

CSS

p {
  writing-mode: vertical-rl;
  text-orientation: upright;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Writing Modes Module Level 3The definition of 'text-orientation' in that specification.	Proposed 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
`text-orientation`	Chrome Full support 48 Full support 48 Full support 11 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Edge Full support 79 Full support 79 Full support 79 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Firefox Full support 41 Full support 41 No support 38 — 51 Disabled' Disabled' From version 38 until version 51 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `layout.css.vertical-text.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 15 Prefixed' Full support 15 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Safari Full support 14 Full support 14 Full support 5.1 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	WebView Android Full support 48 Full support 48 Full support ≤37 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Chrome Android Full support 48 Full support 48 Full support 18 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Firefox Android Full support 41 Full support 41 No support 38 — 51 Disabled' Disabled' From version 38 until version 51 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `layout.css.vertical-text.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android Full support 14 Prefixed' Full support 14 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Safari iOS Full support 14 Full support 14 Full support 5 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0 Full support 5.0 Full support 1.0 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-
`sideways`	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 44 Notes' Full support 44 Notes' Notes' `sideways-right` has become an alias of `sideways`.	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 44 Notes' Full support 44 Notes' Notes' `sideways-right` has become an alias of `sideways`.	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
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.