font-variant-position

Summary

The font-variant-position CSS property controls the usage of alternate glyphs of smaller size positioned as superscript or subscript regarding the baseline of the font, which is set unchanged. These glyphs are likely to be used in <sub> and <sup> elements.

When the usage of these alternate glyphs is activated, if one character in the run doesn't have such typographically enhanced glyph, the whole set of characters of the run is rendered using a fallback method, synthesizing these glyphs.

These alternate glyphs share the same em-box and the same baseline as the rest of the font. They are merely graphically enhanced but have no effect on the line-height and other box characteristics.

Syntax

font-variant-position: normal;
font-variant-position: sub;
font-variant-position: super;

/* Global values */
font-variant-position: inherit;
font-variant-position: initial;
font-variant-position: unset;

Values

normal

This keyword leads to the deactivation of the use of such alternate glyphs.

sub

This keyword forces the use of subscript alternate glyphs. If, in a given run, one such glyph is not available for a character, the whole characters in the run is rendered using synthesized appropriate glyphs.

super

This keyword forces the use of superscript alternate glyphs. If, in a given run, one such glyph is not available for a character, the whole characters in the run is rendered using synthesized appropriate glyphs.

Formal syntax

normal | sub | super

Examples

p {
  font-variant-position: super;
}

Specifications

Browser Compatibility

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