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writing-mode

{{CSSRef}} 

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).

{{InteractiveExample("CSS Demo: writing-mode")}} 

writing-mode: horizontal-tb;

writing-mode: vertical-lr;

writing-mode: vertical-rl;

writing-mode: sideways-rl;

writing-mode: sideways-lr;

<section class="default-example" id="default-example">
  <div class="transition-all" id="example-element">
    <div>1</div>
    <div>2</div>
    <div>3</div>
    <div>4</div>
  </div>
</section>

#example-element {
  border: 1px solid #c5c5c5;
  padding: 0.75em;
  width: 80%;
  max-height: 300px;
  display: flex;
}

#example-element > div {
  background-color: rgba(0, 0, 255, 0.2);
  border: 3px solid blue;
  margin: 10px;
  flex: 1;
}

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;
writing-mode: sideways-rl;
writing-mode: sideways-lr;

/* Global values */
writing-mode: inherit;
writing-mode: initial;
writing-mode: revert;
writing-mode: revert-layer;
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

Formal definition

{{CSSInfo}} 

Formal syntax

{{CSSSyntax}} 

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 {{HTMLElement("table")}}  with each writing mode in a row with a column showing text in various scripts using that writing mode.

<table>
  <caption>
    Using multiple writing modes
  </caption>
  <tr>
    <th>Value</th>
    <th>Vertical script</th>
    <th>Horizontal (LTR) script</th>
    <th>Horizontal (RTL) script</th>
    <th>Mixed script</th>
  </tr>
  <tr class="text1">
    <th>horizontal-tb</th>
    <td>我家没有电脑。</td>
    <td>Example text</td>
    <td>מלל ארוך לדוגמא</td>
    <td>1994年に至っては</td>
  </tr>
  <tr class="text2">
    <th>vertical-lr</th>
    <td>我家没有电脑。</td>
    <td>Example text</td>
    <td>מלל ארוך לדוגמא</td>
    <td>1994年に至っては</td>
  </tr>
  <tr class="text3">
    <th>vertical-rl</th>
    <td>我家没有电脑。</td>
    <td>Example text</td>
    <td>מלל ארוך לדוגמא</td>
    <td>1994年に至っては</td>
  </tr>
  <tr class="experimental text4">
    <th>sideways-lr</th>
    <td>我家没有电脑。</td>
    <td>Example text</td>
    <td>מלל ארוך לדוגמא</td>
    <td>1994年に至っては</td>
  </tr>
  <tr class="experimental text5">
    <th>sideways-rl</th>
    <td>我家没有电脑。</td>
    <td>Example text</td>
    <td>מלל ארוך לדוגמא</td>
    <td>1994年に至っては</td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p class="notice">
  Your browser does not support the <code>sideways-lr</code> or
  <code>sideways-rl</code> values.
</p>

CSS

table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
}
td,
th {
  border: 2px black solid;
  padding: 4px;
}
th {
  background-color: lightgray;
}

.experimental {
  display: none;
}

.notice {
  display: table-row;
  font-weight: bold;
  text-align: center;
}

@supports (writing-mode: sideways-lr) {
  .experimental {
    display: table-row;
  }
  .notice {
    display: none;
  }
}

The CSS that adjusts the directionality of the content looks like this:

.text1 td {
  writing-mode: horizontal-tb;
}

.text2 td {
  writing-mode: vertical-lr;
}

.text3 td {
  writing-mode: vertical-rl;
}

.text4 td {
  writing-mode: sideways-lr;
}

.text5 td {
  writing-mode: sideways-rl;
}

Result

{{EmbedLiveSample("Using_multiple_writing_modes", 400, 700)}} 

Using writing-mode with transforms

If your browser doesn’t support sideways-lr, a workaround is to use {{cssxref("transform")}}  to achieve a similar effect depending on the script direction. The effect of vertical-rl is the same as with sideways-lr, so no transformation is required for left-to-right scripts. In some cases, rotating the text 180 degrees is sufficient to achieve the effect of sideways-lr, but font glyphs may not be designed to be rotated, so this may produce unexpected positioning or rendering.

HTML

<table>
  <caption>
    Using writing-mode with transforms
  </caption>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Vertical LR</th>
      <th>Vertical LR with transform</th>
      <th>Sideways LR</th>
      <th>Only rotate</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <span class="vertical-lr">我家没有电脑。</span>
        <span class="vertical-lr">Example text</span>
      </td>
      <td>
        <span class="vertical-lr rotated">我家没有电脑。</span>
        <span class="vertical-lr rotated">Example text</span>
      </td>
      <td>
        <span class="sideways-lr">我家没有电脑。</span>
        <span class="sideways-lr">Example text</span>
      </td>
      <td>
        <span class="only-rotate">我家没有电脑。</span>
        <span class="only-rotate">Example text</span>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

CSS

.vertical-lr {
  writing-mode: vertical-lr;
}

.rotated {
  transform: rotate(180deg);
}

.sideways-lr {
  writing-mode: sideways-lr;
}

.only-rotate {
  inline-size: fit-content;
  transform: rotate(-90deg);
}

table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
}
td,
th {
  border: 2px black solid;
  padding: 4px;
}
th {
  background-color: lightgray;
}
span {
  display: inline-block;
  width: 1.5em;
  text-align: center;
}

Result

{{EmbedLiveSample("Using_writing-mode_with_transforms", 400, 200)}} 

Specifications

{{Specifications}} 

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}} 

See also

In this article

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