This property may take one of two forms:

• either the keyword normal
• or one or more of the other keywords and functions listed below, space-separated, in any order.

normal

This keyword deactivates alternate glyphs.

historical-forms

This keyword enables historical forms — glyphs that were common in the past but not today. It corresponds to the OpenType value hist.

stylistic()

This function enables stylistic alternates for individual characters. The parameter is a font-specific name mapped to a number. It corresponds to the OpenType value salt, like salt 2.

styleset()

This function enables stylistic alternatives for sets of characters. The parameter is a font-specific name mapped to a number. It corresponds to the OpenType value ssXY, like ss02.

character-variant()

This function enables specific stylistic alternatives for characters. It is similar to styleset(), but doesn't create coherent glyphs for a set of characters; individual characters will have independent and not necessarily coherent styles. The parameter is a font-specific name mapped to a number. It corresponds to the OpenType value cvXY, like cv02.

swash()

This function enables swash glyphs. The parameter is a font-specific name mapped to a number. It corresponds to the OpenType values swsh and cswh, like swsh 2 and cswh 2.

ornaments()

This function enables ornaments, like fleurons and other dingbat glyphs. The parameter is a font-specific name mapped to a number. It corresponds to the OpenType value ornm, like ornm 2.

Note: In order to preserve text semantics, font designers should include ornaments that don't match Unicode dingbat characters as ornamental variants of the bullet character (U+2022). Be aware that some existing fonts don't follow this advice.

annotation()

This function enables annotations, like circled digits or inverted characters. The parameter is a font-specific name mapped to a number. It corresponds to the OpenType value nalt, like nalt 2.

font-variant-alternates = 
  normal                                              |
  [ stylistic( <feature-value-name> ) || historical-forms || styleset( <feature-value-name># ) || character-variant( <feature-value-name># ) || swash( <feature-value-name> ) || ornaments( <feature-value-name> ) || annotation( <feature-value-name> ) ]  

<feature-value-name> = 
  <ident>  

HTML

<p>A Fancy Swash</p>
<p class="variant">A Fancy Swash</p>

CSS

@font-face {
  font-family: MonteCarlo;
  src: url(MonteCarlo-Regular.ttf);
}

@font-feature-values "MonteCarlo" {
  @swash {
    fancy: 1;
  }
}

p {
  font-family: "MonteCarlo";
  font-size: 1.5rem;
}

.variant {
  font-feature-settings: "swsh" 1;
  font-variant-alternates: swash(fancy);
}

• font-variant
• font-variant-caps
• font-variant-east-asian
• font-variant-emoji
• font-variant-ligatures
• font-variant-numeric
• font-variant-position
• @font-feature-values