font-variant-east-asian

The font-variant-east-asian CSS property controls the use of alternate glyphs for East Asian scripts, like Japanese and Chinese.

font-variant-east-asian: normal;
font-variant-east-asian: ruby;
font-variant-east-asian: jis78;              /* <east-asian-variant-values> */
font-variant-east-asian: jis83;              /* <east-asian-variant-values> */
font-variant-east-asian: jis90;              /* <east-asian-variant-values> */
font-variant-east-asian: jis04;              /* <east-asian-variant-values> */
font-variant-east-asian: simplified;         /* <east-asian-variant-values> */
font-variant-east-asian: traditional;        /* <east-asian-variant-values> */
font-variant-east-asian: full-width;         /* <east-asian-width-values> */
font-variant-east-asian: proportional-width; /* <east-asian-width-values> */
font-variant-east-asian: ruby full-width jis83;

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

Syntax

Values

normal

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

ruby

This keyword forces the use of special glyphs for ruby characters. As these are usually smaller, font creators often designs specific forms, usually slightly bolder to improve the contrast. This keyword corresponds to the OpenType values ruby.

<east-asian-variant-values>

These values specify a set of logographic glyph variants which should be used for display. Possible values are:

Keyword	Standard defining the glyphs	OpenType equivalent
jis78	JIS X 0208:1978	jp78
jis83	JIS X 0208:1983	jp83
jis90	JIS X 0208:1990	jp90
jis04	JIS X 0213:2004	jp04
simplified	None, use the simplified Chinese glyphs	smpl
traditional	None, use the traditional Chinese glyphs	trad

<east-asian-width-values>

These values control the sizing of figures used for East Asian characters. Two values are possible:

• proportional-width activating the set of East Asian characters which vary in width. It corresponds to the OpenType values pwid.
• full-width activating the set of East Asian characters which are all of the same, roughly square, width metric. It corresponds to the OpenType values fwid.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

normal | [ <east-asian-variant-values> || <east-asian-width-values> || ruby ]
where 
<east-asian-variant-values> = [ jis78 | jis83 | jis90 | jis04 | simplified | traditional ]
<east-asian-width-values> = [ full-width | proportional-width ]

Examples

Setting East Asian glyph variants

This example require font "Yu Gothic" installed in your OS, other fonts may not support OpenType features.

HTML

<table>
<thead></thead>
<tbody style="border:0;">
  <tr>
    <th>normal/jis78:</th>
    <td>麹町</td>
    <td class="jis78">麹町</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>normal/ruby:</th>
    <td>しんかんせん</td>
    <td class="ruby">しんかんせん</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>normal/traditional:</th>
    <td>大学</td>
    <td class="traditional">大学</td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

CSS

td{
  font-family:"Yu Gothic";
  font-size:20px;
}
th{
  color:grey;
  padding-right:10px;
}

.ruby {
  font-variant-east-asian: ruby;
}

.jis78 { 
  font-variant-east-asian: jis78; 
}

.traditional{
  font-variant-east-asian: traditional;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub