font-variant-ligatures
Baseline Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since January 2020.
The font-variant-ligatures
CSS property controls which ligatures and contextual forms are used in the textual content of the elements it applies to. This leads to more harmonized forms in the resulting text.
Try it
Syntax
/* Keyword values */
font-variant-ligatures: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: none;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; /* <common-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; /* <common-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: discretionary-ligatures; /* <discretionary-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: no-discretionary-ligatures; /* <discretionary-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: historical-ligatures; /* <historical-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: no-historical-ligatures; /* <historical-lig-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: contextual; /* <contextual-alt-values> */
font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual; /* <contextual-alt-values> */
/* Two keyword values */
font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual common-ligatures;
/* Four keyword values */
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures no-discretionary-ligatures
historical-ligatures contextual;
/* Global values */
font-variant-ligatures: inherit;
font-variant-ligatures: initial;
font-variant-ligatures: revert;
font-variant-ligatures: revert-layer;
font-variant-ligatures: unset;
The font-variant-ligatures property is specified as normal
, none
, or one or more of the other value types listed below. Spaces separate multiple values.
Values
normal
-
This keyword activates the usual ligatures and contextual forms needed for correct rendering. The ligatures and forms activated depend on the font, language, and kind of script. This is the default value.
none
-
This keyword specifies that all ligatures and contextual forms are disabled, even common ones.
<common-lig-values>
-
These values control the most common ligatures, like for
fi
,ffi
,th
, or similar. They correspond to the OpenType valuesliga
andclig
. Two values are possible:common-ligatures
activating these ligatures. Note that the keywordnormal
activates these ligatures.no-common-ligatures
deactivating these ligatures.
<discretionary-lig-values>
-
These values control specific ligatures, specific to the font and defined by the type designer. They correspond to the OpenType values
dlig
. Two values are possible:discretionary-ligatures
activating these ligatures.no-discretionary-ligatures
deactivating the ligatures. Note that the keywordnormal
usually deactivates these ligatures.
<historical-lig-values>
-
These values control the ligatures used historically, in old books, like the German tz digraph being displayed as ꜩ. They correspond to the OpenType values
hlig
. Two values are possible:historical-ligatures
activating these ligatures.no-historical-ligatures
deactivating the ligatures. Note that the keywordnormal
usually deactivates these ligatures.
<contextual-alt-values>
-
These values control whether letters adapt to their context—that is, whether they adapt to the surrounding letters. These values correspond to the OpenType values
calt
. Two values are possible:contextual
specifies that the contextual alternates are to be used. Note that the keywordnormal
usually activates these ligatures too.no-contextual
prevents their use.
Formal definition
Initial value | normal |
---|---|
Applies to | all elements and text. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line . |
Inherited | yes |
Computed value | as specified |
Animation type | discrete |
Formal syntax
font-variant-ligatures =
normal |
none |
[ <common-lig-values> || <discretionary-lig-values> || <historical-lig-values> || <contextual-alt-values> ]
<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
Examples
Setting font ligatures and contextual forms
HTML
<link href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lora" rel="stylesheet" />
<p class="normal">
normal<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="none">
none<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="common-ligatures">
common-ligatures<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="no-common-ligatures">
no-common-ligatures<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="discretionary-ligatures">
discretionary-ligatures<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="no-discretionary-ligatures">
no-discretionary-ligatures<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="historical-ligatures">
historical-ligatures<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="no-historical-ligatures">
no-historical-ligatures<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="contextual">
contextual<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
<p class="no-contextual">
no-contextual<br />
if fi ff tf ft jf fj
</p>
CSS
p {
font-family: Lora, serif;
}
.normal {
font-variant-ligatures: normal;
}
.none {
font-variant-ligatures: none;
}
.common-ligatures {
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;
}
.no-common-ligatures {
font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;
}
.discretionary-ligatures {
font-variant-ligatures: discretionary-ligatures;
}
.no-discretionary-ligatures {
font-variant-ligatures: no-discretionary-ligatures;
}
.historical-ligatures {
font-variant-ligatures: historical-ligatures;
}
.no-historical-ligatures {
font-variant-ligatures: no-historical-ligatures;
}
.contextual {
font-variant-ligatures: contextual;
}
.no-contextual {
font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual;
}
Result
Specifications
Specification |
---|
CSS Fonts Module Level 4 # font-variant-ligatures-prop |
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser