flex-direction
Baseline: Widely supported
Baseline is determined by this web feature being supported on the current and the previous major versions of major browsers.
The flex-direction
CSS property sets how flex items are placed in the flex container defining the main axis and the direction (normal or reversed).
Try it
Note that the values row
and row-reverse
are affected by the directionality of the flex container. If its dir
attribute is ltr
, row
represents the horizontal axis oriented from the left to the right, and row-reverse
from the right to the left; if the dir
attribute is rtl
, row
represents the axis oriented from the right to the left, and row-reverse
from the left to the right.
Syntax
css
/* The direction text is laid out in a line */
flex-direction: row;
/* Like <row>, but reversed */
flex-direction: row-reverse;
/* The direction in which lines of text are stacked */
flex-direction: column;
/* Like <column>, but reversed */
flex-direction: column-reverse;
/* Global values */
flex-direction: inherit;
flex-direction: initial;
flex-direction: revert;
flex-direction: revert-layer;
flex-direction: unset;
Values
The following values are accepted:
row
-
The flex container's main-axis is defined to be the same as the text direction. The main-start and main-end points are the same as the content direction.
row-reverse
-
Behaves the same as
row
but the main-start and main-end points are opposite to the content direction. column
-
The flex container's main-axis is the same as the block-axis. The main-start and main-end points are the same as the before and after points of the writing-mode.
column-reverse
-
Behaves the same as
column
but the main-start and main-end are opposite to the content direction.
Accessibility concerns
Using the flex-direction
property with values of row-reverse
or column-reverse
will create a disconnect between the visual presentation of content and DOM order. This will adversely affect users experiencing low vision navigating with the aid of assistive technology such as a screen reader. If the visual (CSS) order is important, then screen reader users will not have access to the correct reading order.
Formal definition
Initial value | row |
---|---|
Applies to | flex containers |
Inherited | no |
Computed value | as specified |
Animation type | discrete |
Formal syntax
Examples
Reversing flex container columns and rows
HTML
html
<h4>This is a Column-Reverse</h4>
<div id="col-rev" class="content">
<div class="box red">A</div>
<div class="box lightblue">B</div>
<div class="box yellow">C</div>
</div>
<h4>This is a Row-Reverse</h4>
<div id="row-rev" class="content">
<div class="box red">A</div>
<div class="box lightblue">B</div>
<div class="box yellow">C</div>
</div>
CSS
css
.content {
width: 200px;
height: 200px;
border: 1px solid #c3c3c3;
display: flex;
}
.box {
width: 50px;
height: 50px;
}
#col-rev {
flex-direction: column-reverse;
}
#row-rev {
flex-direction: row-reverse;
}
.red {
background-color: red;
}
.lightblue {
background-color: lightblue;
}
.yellow {
background-color: yellow;
}
Result
Specifications
Specification |
---|
CSS Flexible Box Layout Module Level 1 # flex-direction-property |
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser
See also
- CSS Flexbox Guide: Basic Concepts of Flexbox
- CSS Flexbox Guide: Ordering flex items