CSS text-emphasis-position
The CSS text-emphasis-position property controls where emphasis marks are drawn relative to the text — above or below in horizontal writing modes, and to the left or right in vertical writing modes.
Unlike the text-emphasis shorthand (which sets the style and color), text-emphasis-position is set independently and is not reset by the shorthand. This lets you define a consistent position for emphasis marks globally on a page and then vary the style and color per element.
The property takes two keywords: one specifying the vertical position (over or under) and one specifying the horizontal preference (right or left). The horizontal keyword affects the placement when emphasis marks conflict with ruby annotations in vertical writing.
Syntax
Possible Values
over- Draw emphasis marks above the text in horizontal writing modes.
under- Draw emphasis marks below the text in horizontal writing modes. This may be preferred when the text already has ruby annotations above it, to avoid visual clutter.
right- Draw emphasis marks to the right of the text in vertical writing modes. This is the default.
left- Draw emphasis marks to the left of the text in vertical writing modes. This is used in some Japanese typographic conventions.
The two keywords may be specified in any order. The most common values are:
over right— The initial value; marks appear above (horizontal) or to the right (vertical).under right— Marks below the text; useful when ruby annotations occupy the space above.over left— Marks above, to the left in vertical writing (traditional Japanese style).
In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:
initial- Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit- Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset- This value acts as either
inheritorinitial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.
Basic Property Information
- Initial Value
over right- Applies To
- All elements
- Inherited?
- Yes
- Media
- Visual
- Animation Type
- Not animatable (discrete)
Example Code
Working Example
CSS Specifications
- The
text-emphasis-positionproperty is defined in CSS Text Decoration Module Level 3 (W3C Candidate Recommendation).
Browser Support
Browser support for CSS properties can vary, particularly for newer or experimental features. Check current browser compatibility before using a property in production, especially when supporting older browsers.
The following table provided by Caniuse.com shows the level of browser support for this feature.
Initial Value
CSS properties have an initial value that applies when the property has not been explicitly set. The initial value is different from the value inherited from a parent element and may vary between properties.
Inheritance
Some CSS properties inherit their computed value from their parent element by default, while others do not. The inherit, initial, unset, and revert keywords can also be used to control how a property gets its value.
Vendor Prefixes
Most modern CSS properties use the standard, unprefixed syntax. Vendor-prefixed properties such as -webkit- are mainly relevant to older browser versions or specific features and should only be used when required by your browser support targets.