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.

* Some parts of this feature may have varying levels of support.

The block-size CSS property defines the size of an element's block along the block axis. If the writing-mode is horizontal, it corresponds to the height; if the writing mode is vertical, it corresponds to the width. A related property is inline-size, which defines the other dimension of the element.

Try it

block-size: 150px;
writing-mode: horizontal-tb;

block-size: 150px;
writing-mode: vertical-rl;

block-size: auto;
writing-mode: horizontal-tb;

block-size: auto;
writing-mode: vertical-lr;

<section class="default-example" id="default-example">
  <div class="transition-all" id="example-element">
    This is a box where you can change the block-size.
  </div>
</section>

#example-element {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  background-color: #5b6dcd;
  justify-content: center;
  color: #ffffff;
}

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