font-variant

The font-variant CSS property is a shorthand for the longhand properties font-variant-caps, font-variant-numeric, font-variant-alternates, font-variant-ligatures, and font-variant-east-asian. You can also set the CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) values of font-variant, (that is, normal or small-caps), by using the font shorthand.

font-variant: small-caps;
font-variant: common-ligatures small-caps;
/* Global values */
font-variant: inherit;
font-variant: initial;
font-variant: unset;

Initial valuenormal
Applies toall elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inheritedyes
Mediavisual
Computed valueas specified
Animation typediscrete
Canonical orderthe unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

Values

normal
Specifies a normal font face; each of the longhand properties has an initial value of normal. Longhand properties of font-variant are: font-variant-caps, font-variant-numeric, font-variant-alternates, font-variant-ligatures, and font-variant-east-asian.
none
Sets the value of the font-variant-ligatures to none and the values of the other longhand property as normal, their initial value.
<common-lig-values>, <discretionary-lig-values>, <historical-lig-values>, <contextual-alt-values>
Specifies the keywords related to the font-variant-ligatures longhand property. The possible values are: common-ligatures, no-common-ligatures, discretionary-ligatures, no-discretionary-ligatures, historical-ligatures, no-historical-ligatures, contextual, and no-contextual.
stylistic()historical-forms, styleset(), character-variant(), swash(), ornaments(), annotation()
Specifies the keywords and functions related to the font-variant-alternates longhand property.
small-caps, all-small-caps, petite-caps, all-petite-caps, unicase, titling-caps
Specifies the keywords and functions related to the font-variant-caps longhand property.
<numeric-figure-values>, <numeric-spacing-values>, <numeric-fraction-values>, ordinal, slashed-zero
Specifies the keywords related to the font-variant-numeric longhand property. The possible values are:  lining-nums, oldstyle-nums, proportional-nums, tabular-nums, diagonal-fractions, stacked-fractions, ordinal, and slashed-zero.
<east-asian-variant-values>, <east-asian-width-values>, ruby
Specifies the keywords related to the font-variant-east-asian longhand property. The possible values are: jis78, jis83, jis90, jis04, simplified, traditional, full-width, proportional-width, ruby.

Formal syntax

normal | none | [ <common-lig-values> || <discretionary-lig-values> || <historical-lig-values> || <contextual-alt-values> || stylistic( <feature-value-name> ) || historical-forms || styleset( <feature-value-name># ) || character-variant( <feature-value-name># ) || swash( <feature-value-name> ) || ornaments( <feature-value-name> ) || annotation( <feature-value-name> ) || [ small-caps | all-small-caps | petite-caps | all-petite-caps | unicase | titling-caps ] || <numeric-figure-values> || <numeric-spacing-values> || <numeric-fraction-values> || ordinal || slashed-zero || <east-asian-variant-values> || <east-asian-width-values> || ruby ]

where
<common-lig-values> = [ common-ligatures | no-common-ligatures ]
<discretionary-lig-values> = [ discretionary-ligatures | no-discretionary-ligatures ]
<historical-lig-values> = [ historical-ligatures | no-historical-ligatures ]
<contextual-alt-values> = [ contextual | no-contextual ]
<feature-value-name> = <custom-ident>
<numeric-figure-values> = [ lining-nums | oldstyle-nums ]
<numeric-spacing-values> = [ proportional-nums | tabular-nums ]
<numeric-fraction-values> = [ diagonal-fractions | stacked-fractions ]
<east-asian-variant-values> = [ jis78 | jis83 | jis90 | jis04 | simplified | traditional ]
<east-asian-width-values> = [ full-width | proportional-width ]

Example

HTML

<p class="normal">Firefox rocks!</p>
<p class="small">Firefox rocks!</p>

CSS

p.normal {
  font-variant: normal;
}
p.small {
  font-variant: small-caps;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
CSS Fonts Module Level 3
The definition of 'font-variant' in that specification.
Candidate Recommendation Made it a shorthand of the new font-variant-* properties.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)
The definition of 'font-variant' in that specification.
Recommendation No change
CSS Level 1
The definition of 'font-variant' in that specification.
Recommendation Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Edge Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support 1.0 (Yes) 1.0 (1.0) 4.0 3.5 1.0 (85)
ßSS ? No support 1.0 (1.7 or earlier) ? ? ?
iİ and ıI No support ? 14 (14) ? ? No support
Greek accented letters No support ? 15 (15) No support No support No support
CSS Font L3 version (shorthand) ? ? 34 (34) [1] ? ? 9.1
Feature Android Edge Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support ? (Yes) ? ? ? ?
ßSS No support No support ? ? ? ?
iİ and ıI No support ? 14.0 (14) ? ? No support
Greek accented letters No support ? No support No support No support No support
CSS Font L3 version (shorthand) ? ? 34.0 (34) [1] ? ? 9.3

[1] Experimental implementation of the CSS Fonts Level 3 extensions was available since Gecko 24. It was governed by the preference layout.css.font-features.enabled defaulting to true on Nightly and Aurora only.

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Last updated by: mfluehr,