The text-emphasis-position CSS property sets where emphasis marks are drawn. Like ruby text, if there isn't enough room for emphasis marks, the line height is increased.

/* Initial value */ text-emphasis-position: over right;  /* Keywords value */ text-emphasis-position: over left; text-emphasis-position: under right; text-emphasis-position: under left;  text-emphasis-position: left over; text-emphasis-position: right under; text-emphasis-position: left under;  /* Global values */ text-emphasis-position: inherit; text-emphasis-position: initial; text-emphasis-position: revert; text-emphasis-position: unset; 

text-emphasis-position

The text-emphasis-position CSS property sets where emphasis marks are drawn. Like ruby text, if there isn't enough room for emphasis marks, the line height is increased.

/* Initial value */ text-emphasis-position: over right;  /* Keywords value */ text-emphasis-position: over left; text-emphasis-position: under right; text-emphasis-position: under left;  text-emphasis-position: left over; text-emphasis-position: right under; text-emphasis-position: left under;  /* Global values */ text-emphasis-position: inherit; text-emphasis-position: initial; text-emphasis-position: revert; text-emphasis-position: unset; 

Syntax

Values

over

Draws marks over the text in horizontal writing mode.

under

Draws marks under the text in horizontal writing mode.

right

Draws marks to the right of the text in vertical writing mode.

left

Draws marks to the left of the text in vertical writing mode.

Description

The preferred position of emphasis marks depends on the language. In Japanese for example, the preferred position is over right. In Chinese, on the other hand, the preferred position is under right. The informative table below summarizes the preferred emphasis mark positions for Chinese, Mongolian and Japanese:

Preferred emphasis mark and ruby position

Language	Preferred position		Illustration
	Horizontal	Vertical
Japanese	over	right
Korean
Mongolian
Chinese	under	right

Note: The text-emphasis-position cannot be set, and therefore are not reset either, using the text-emphasis shorthand property.

Formal definition

Initial value	over right
Applies to	all elements
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

[ over | under ] && [ right | left ]

Examples

Preferring ruby over emphasis marks

Some editors prefer to hide emphasis marks when they conflict with ruby. In HTML, this can be done with the following style rule:

ruby {   -webkit-text-emphasis: none;   text-emphasis: none; } 

Preferring emphasis marks over ruby

Some other editors prefer to hide ruby when they conflict with emphasis marks. In HTML, this can be done with the following pattern:

em {   -webkit-text-emphasis: dot;   text-emphasis: dot; /* Set text-emphasis for <em> elements */ }  em rt {   display: none; /* Hide ruby inside <em> elements */ } 

Specifications

Specification
CSS Text Decoration Module Level 3 # text-emphasis-position-property

See also

The longhand properties text-emphasis-style, text-emphasis-color, and the corresponding shorthand property text-emphasis.

Last modified: Jan 31, 2022, by MDN contributors