block-size

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2021.

The block-size CSS property defines the horizontal or vertical size of an element's block, depending on its writing mode. It corresponds to either the width or the height property, depending on the value of writing-mode.

If the writing mode is vertically oriented, the value of block-size relates to the width of the element; otherwise, it relates to the height of the element. A related property is inline-size, which defines the other dimension of the element.

Try it

Syntax

css

/* <length> values */
block-size: 300px;
block-size: 25em;
block-size: anchor-size(height);
block-size: calc(anchor-size(--myAnchor block) * 0.75);

/* <percentage> values */
block-size: 75%;

/* Keyword values */
block-size: max-content;
block-size: min-content;
block-size: fit-content;
block-size: fit-content(20em);
block-size: auto;

/* Global values */
block-size: inherit;
block-size: initial;
block-size: revert;
block-size: revert-layer;
block-size: unset;

Values

The block-size property takes the same values as the width and height properties.

Formal definition

Initial value	`auto`
Applies to	same as `width` and `height`
Inherited	no
Percentages	block-size of containing block
Computed value	same as `width` and `height`
Animation type	a length, percentage or calc();

Formal syntax

block-size = 
  <'width'>  

<width> = 
  auto                                      |
  <length-percentage [0,∞]>                 |
  min-content                               |
  max-content                               |
  fit-content( <length-percentage [0,∞]> )  |
  <calc-size()>                             |
  <anchor-size()>                           

<length-percentage> = 
  <length>      |
  <percentage>  

<calc-size()> = 
  calc-size( <calc-size-basis> , <calc-sum> )  

<anchor-size()> = 
  anchor-size( [ <anchor-name> || <anchor-size> ]? , <length-percentage>? )  

<calc-size-basis> = 
  <intrinsic-size-keyword>  |
  <calc-size()>             |
  any                       |
  <calc-sum>                

<calc-sum> = 
  <calc-product> [ [ '+' | '-' ] <calc-product> ]*  

<anchor-name> = 
  <dashed-ident>  

<anchor-size> = 
  width        |
  height       |
  block        |
  inline       |
  self-block   |
  self-inline  

<calc-product> = 
  <calc-value> [ [ '*' | '/' ] <calc-value> ]*  

<calc-value> = 
  <number>        |
  <dimension>     |
  <percentage>    |
  <calc-keyword>  |
  ( <calc-sum> )  

<calc-keyword> = 
  e          |
  pi         |
  infinity   |
  -infinity  |
  NaN

Examples

Block size with vertical text

HTML

html

<p class="exampleText">Example text</p>

CSS

css

.exampleText {
  writing-mode: vertical-rl;
  background-color: yellow;
  block-size: 200px;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Logical Properties and Values Level 1 # dimension-properties
CSS Box Sizing Module Level 4 # sizing-values

Browser compatibility

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