How can I draw vertical text with CSS cross-browser?

usr picture usr · Jul 3, 2009 · Viewed 235.9k times · Source

I want to rotate a single word of text by 90 degrees, with cross-browser (>= IE6, >= Firefox 2, any version of Chrome, Safari, or Opera) support. How can this be done?

Answer

Robert K picture Robert K · Jul 3, 2009

Updated this answer with recent information (from CSS Tricks). Kudos to Matt and Douglas for pointing out the filter implementation.

.rotate {
  -webkit-transform: rotate(-90deg);
  -moz-transform: rotate(-90deg);
  -ms-transform: rotate(-90deg);
  -o-transform: rotate(-90deg);
  transform: rotate(-90deg);

  /* also accepts left, right, top, bottom coordinates; not required, but a good idea for styling */
  -webkit-transform-origin: 50% 50%;
  -moz-transform-origin: 50% 50%;
  -ms-transform-origin: 50% 50%;
  -o-transform-origin: 50% 50%;
  transform-origin: 50% 50%;

  /* Should be unset in IE9+ I think. */
  filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=3);
}

Old answer:

For FF 3.5 or Safari/Webkit 3.1, check out: -moz-transform (and -webkit-transform). IE has a Matrix filter(v5.5+), but I'm not certain how to use it. Opera has no transformation capabilities yet.

.rot-neg-90 {
  /* rotate -90 deg, not sure if a negative number is supported so I used 270 */
  -moz-transform: rotate(270deg);
  -moz-transform-origin: 50% 50%;
  -webkit-transform: rotate(270deg);
  -webkit-transform-origin: 50% 50%;
  /* IE support too convoluted for the time I've got on my hands... */
}