box-orient

Non-standard: This feature is non-standard and is not on a standards track. Do not use it on production sites facing the Web: it will not work for every user. There may also be large incompatibilities between implementations and the behavior may change in the future.

Warning: This is a property of the original CSS Flexible Box Layout Module draft, and has been replaced by a newer standard. See flexbox for information about the current standard.

The box-orient CSS property sets whether an element lays out its contents horizontally or vertically.

/* Keyword values */
box-orient: horizontal;
box-orient: vertical;
box-orient: inline-axis;
box-orient: block-axis;

/* Global values */
box-orient: inherit;
box-orient: initial;
box-orient: unset;

Syntax

The box-orient property is specified as one of the keyword values listed below.

Values

horizontal: The box lays out its contents horizontally.
vertical: The box lays out its contents vertically.
inline-axis (HTML): The box displays its children along the inline axis.
block-axis (HTML): The box displays its children along the block axis.

The inline and block axes are the writing-mode dependent keywords which, in English, map to horizontal and vertical respectively.

Description

HTML DOM elements lay out their contents along the inline-axis by default. This CSS property will only apply to HTML elements with a CSS display value of box or inline-box.

Formal definition

Initial value	`inline-axis` (`horizontal` in XUL)
Applies to	elements with a CSS `display` value of `box` or `inline-box`
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

horizontal | vertical | inline-axis | block-axis | inherit

Examples

Setting horizontal box orientation

Here, the box-orient property will cause the two <p> sections in the example to display in the same line.

HTML

<div class="example">
    <p>I will be to the left of my sibling.</p>
    <p>I will be to the right of my sibling.</p>
</div>

CSS

div.example {
  display: -moz-box;                /* Mozilla */
  display: -webkit-box;             /* WebKit */
  display: box;                     /* As specified */

  /* Children should be oriented vertically */
  -moz-box-orient: horizontal;      /* Mozilla */
  -webkit-box-orient: horizontal;   /* WebKit */
  box-orient: horizontal;           /* As specified */
}