A CSS Logical Properties and Values plugin for Tailwind CSS.
A CSS Logical Properties and Values plugin for
Tailwind CSS, compatible with Tailwind v4. For compatibility with Tailwind v3, please use v3.0.1 of this plugin, and for Tailwind v2 and v1.2.0+, use version v2.0.0.
**Note: Tailwind CSS now officially supports many of the most commonly-used Logical Properties and Values in v4.0.0.
We recommend trying the update to see if it is sufficient for your needs before using this plugin.**
View the demo page for a visual walkthrough, or read on to get
started.
Install tailwindcss-logical as a dependency of your project:
``bash`
npm install tailwindcss-logical --save-dev
Use the @plugin directive in your main CSS file to load it after importing Tailwind itself:
`css
@import "tailwindcss";
@plugin "tailwindcss-logical";
`
Now you can start using the new classes in your templates! Also if you have --spacing-* variables defined with the@theme directive, this plugin will generate spacing utilities for those variables too.
(More on theme variables)
In short, CSS Logical Properties and Values extend CSS for easier development when working with non-LTR (left-to-right)
languages. For example, let's say you want to add padding before the start of a paragraph of text. For English, which
is LTR, you would do this:
`css`
.lead-paragraph {
padding-left: 1rem;
}
However, for Farsi, which reads right-to-left, that would cause the padding to be at the end of the text rather than
the beginning, so you would have to do something like this to cover both cases:
`css`
.lead-paragraph {
padding-left: 1rem;
}
html[dir="rtl"] .lead-paragraph {
padding-left: 0;
padding-right: 1rem;
}
CSS Logical Properties and Values simplifies this by abstracting away the specific directions. The above example
becomes this:
`css`
.lead-paragraph {
padding-inline-start: 1rem;
}
With one style, the padding is applied as intended for either language. For more about CSS Logical Properties and
Values, see Building Multi-Directional Layouts by Ahmad
El-Alfy.
`css`
.resize-block {
resize: block;
}
.resize-inline {
resize: inline;
}
`css`
.overflow-b-hidden {
overflow-block: hidden;
}
.overflow-i-hidden {
overflow-inline: hidden;
}
`css`
.overscroll-b-auto {
overscroll-behavior-block: auto;
}
.overscroll-b-contain {
overscroll-behavior-block: contain;
}
.overscroll-b-none {
overscroll-behavior-block: none;
}
.overscroll-i-auto {
overscroll-behavior-inline: auto;
}
.overscroll-i-contain {
overscroll-behavior-inline: contain;
}
.overscroll-i-none {
overscroll-behavior-inline: none;
}
Utilities are generated for the block-size, inline-size, min-block-size, min-inline-size, max-block-size, andmax-inline-size properties. These have the same range of values as height, width, min-height, min-width,max-height, and max-width, respectively.
`css`
.bs-1 {
block-size: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.is-1 {
inline-size: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.min-bs-0 {
min-block-size: calc(var(--spacing) * 0);
}
.min-is-0 {
min-inline-size: calc(var(--spacing) * 0);
}
.max-bs-full {
max-block-size: 100%;
}
.max-is-full {
max-inline-size: 100%;
}
Utilities are generated for the margin-block-start, margin-block-end, margin-inline-start, andmargin-inline-end properties, as well as for the shorthand properties margin-block and margin-inline. These havemargin
the same range of values as other utilities.
`css`
.mlb-1 {
margin-block: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.mli-1 {
margin-inline: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.mbs-1 {
margin-block-start: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.mbe-1 {
margin-block-end: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.mis-1 {
margin-inline-start: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.mie-1 {
margin-inline-end: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
Utilities are generated for the padding-block-start, padding-block-end, padding-inline-start, andpadding-inline-end properties, as well as for the shorthand properties padding-block and padding-end. These havepadding
the same range of values as other utilities.
`css`
.plb-1 {
padding-block: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.pli-1 {
padding-inline: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.pbs-1 {
padding-block-start: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.pbe-1 {
padding-block-end: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.pis-1 {
padding-inline-start: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
.pie-1 {
padding-inline-end: calc(var(--spacing) * 1);
}
Flow-relative utilities are generated for the Tailwind-specific Space Between.
These have the same range of values as other space utilities. All of the usual positive and negative values plus.space-b-reverse and .space-i-reverse utilities are generated.
`css
.space-b-1 > :not(:last-child) {
--tw-space-b-reverse: 0;
margin-block-start: calc(
calc(var(--spacing) 1) calc(1 - var(--tw-space-b-reverse))
);
margin-block-end: calc(calc(var(--spacing) 1) var(--tw-space-b-reverse));
}
.space-i-1 > :not(:last-child) {
--tw-space-i-reverse: 0;
margin-inline-start: calc(
calc(var(--spacing) 1) calc(1 - var(--tw-space-i-reverse))
);
margin-inline-end: calc(calc(var(--spacing) 1) var(--tw-space-i-reverse));
}
`
Utilities are generated for the inset-block-start, inset-block-end, inset-inline-start, andinset-inline-end properties, as well as for the shorthand properties inset-block and inset-inline. These have theinset
same range of values as other utilities.
`css`
.inset-block-0 {
inset-block: calc(var(--spacing) * 0);
}
.inset-inline-0 {
inset-inline: calc(var(--spacing) * 0);
}
.block-start-0 {
inset-block-start: calc(var(--spacing) * 0);
}
.block-end-0 {
inset-block-end: calc(var(--spacing) * 0);
}
.inline-start-0 {
inset-inline-start: calc(var(--spacing) * 0);
}
.inline-end-0 {
inset-inline-end: calc(var(--spacing) * 0);
}
Utilities are generated for the border-block-width, border-inline-width, border-block-start-width,border-block-end-width, border-inline-start-width, and border-inline-end-width properties. These have the sameborderWidth
range of values as other utilities.
`css`
.border-lb-2 {
border-block-width: 2px;
}
.border-li-2 {
border-inline-width: 2px;
}
.border-bs-2 {
border-block-start-width: 2px;
}
.border-be-2 {
border-block-end-width: 2px;
}
.border-is-2 {
border-inline-start-width: 2px;
}
.border-ie-2 {
border-inline-end-width: 2px;
}
Utilities are generated for the border-block-color, border-inline-color, border-block-start-color,border-block-end-color, border-inline-start-color, and border-inline-end-color properties. These have the sameborderColor
range of values as other utilities
`css`
.border-lb-black {
border-block-color: var(--color-black);
}
.border-li-black {
border-inline-color: var(--color-black);
}
.border-bs-black {
border-block-start-color: var(--color-black);
}
.border-be-black {
border-block-end-color: var(--color-black);
}
.border-is-black {
border-inline-start-color: var(--color-black);
}
.border-ie-black {
border-inline-end-color: var(--color-black);
}
Flow-relative utilities are generated for the Tailwind-specific
Divide Width. These have the same range of values as other divide
utilities. All of the usual values plus , .divide-i, .divide-b-reverse and .divide-i-reverse utilities
are generated.
`css
.divide-b-2 > :not(:last-child) {
--tw-divide-b-reverse: 0;
border-block-start-width: calc(2px * calc(1 - var(--tw-divide-b-reverse)));
border-block-end-width: calc(2px * var(--tw-divide-b-reverse));
}
.divide-i-2 > :not(:last-child) {
--tw-divide-i-reverse: 0;
border-inline-start-width: calc(2px * calc(1 - var(--tw-divide-i-reverse)));
border-inline-end-width: calc(2px * var(--tw-divide-i-reverse));
}
`
Shorthand utility classes are generated for rounding each side of an element. Utility classes for each individual
corner are already provided by Tailwind itself. These have the same range of values as other borderRadius utilities.
`css
.rounded-bs-md {
border-start-start-radius: var(--radius-md);
border-start-end-radius: var(--radius-md);
}
.rounded-be-md {
border-end-start-radius: var(--radius-md);
border-end-end-radius: var(--radius-md);
}
.rounded-is-md {
border-start-start-radius: var(--radius-md);
border-end-start-radius: var(--radius-md);
}
.rounded-ie-md {
border-start-end-radius: var(--radius-md);
border-end-end-radius: var(--radius-md);
}
`
While everything in the CSS Logical Properties and Values Level 1
specification has been evaluated and most features are supported, this plugin does not generate utilities for
everything. If something does not have a non-logical equivalent in Tailwind's defaults, it is not supported.
- Logical Values for the caption-side property: Tailwind only has caption-side utilities for the vertical axis, andtop
according to the spec, and bottom qualify as logical values already.border-style
- Flow-relative Border Styles: Tailwind only has utilities for all sides of an element at once.
If there are any notable omissions that you think should be supported, please
file an issue and let me know.
Browser support for CSS Logical Properties and Values has come a long way. As of June 2024, all of the utilities
provided with this plugin are supported in at least the last two major versions of all of the following browsers: Edge,
Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Safari for iOS, Chrome for Android, and more.
If some utilities don't seem to work correctly, you can refer to Can I use... to see if that
property or value is supported by your browser. Relevant Can I use... links for each set of utilities are included in
the demo page.
If better browser support for legacy browsers is required, you can use PostCSS to improve
compatibility. Here are two possible solutions:
1. postcss-preset-env set to stage: 2 or lower
2. postcss-logical followed by
postcss-dir-pseudo-class
If you take your output styles from Tailwind and run them through either of the above, your logical properties and
values will be converted to attribute selectors that any browser can understand.
`css
/ Default /
.float-start {
float: inline-start;
}
/ With postcss-preset-env, or postcss-logical and postcss-dir-pseudo-class applied /
[dir="ltr"] .float-start {
float: left;
}
[dir="rtl"] .float-start {
float: right;
}
`
At this point I consider this plugin feature complete, but I will continue to monitor official specifications, as well
as Tailwind itself, and update this plugin accordingly when anything changes.
I've tried dropping the legacy plugin API and building entirely with CSS the Tailwind v4 way, though the documentation
isn't enough for my needs and all of the official Tailwind plugins still use the legacy API, so I haven't seen any
functional examples. I might try again at some point if more examples appear and if there's enough value in doing so.
If you don't have a Codeberg account, Codeberg does allow you to sign in with a GitHub account. If you're not
interested in using Codeberg but you have an issue or a contribution idea, please feel free to send me an email. I'd be
glad to write up an issue or pull request for you and credit you by name / GitHub account if you like.
My email address is below.
If you would like to make a contribution yourself, pull requests are totally welcome, though I recommend starting by
filing an issue.
Updating the unit tests is a real pain and I would not wish that upon anybody, especially someone kind enough to
contribute to this project, so if you contribute an update to the plugin, I can handle the tests.
1. Fork the project
2. Check out a feature branch (e.g. git checkout -b feature-foo-bar)git commit -am 'Add foo bar'
3. Commit changes (e.g. )git push origin feature-foo-bar`)
4. Push the branch (e.g.
5. Create a new pull request
Mona Uppenkamp (@MUppenkamp on GitHub) for contributing support for custom spacing
variables.
Mohamed Ashraf (سعدني, @sa3dany on GitHub) for making the demo more prominent in the
README.
Steve Cochrane (steve@stevecochrane.com)