orphans

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

The orphans CSS property sets the minimum number of lines in a block container that must be shown at the bottom of a page, region, or column.

In typography, an orphan is the first line of a paragraph that appears alone at the bottom of a page. (The paragraph continues on a following page.)

Syntax

css
/*  values */
orphans: 2;
orphans: 3;

/* Global values */
orphans: inherit;
orphans: initial;
orphans: revert;
orphans: revert-layer;
orphans: unset;

Values

The minimum number of lines that can stay by themselves at the bottom of a fragment before a fragmentation break. The value must be positive.

Formal definition

Initial value2
Applies toblock container elements
Inheritedyes
Computed valueas specified
Animation typeby computed value type

Formal syntax

orphans =

Examples

Setting a minimum orphan size of three lines

HTML

html

  
This is the first paragraph containing some text.

  

    This is the second paragraph containing some more text than the first one.
    It is used to demonstrate how orphans work.
  

  

    This is the third paragraph. It has a little bit more text than the first
    one.

CSS

css
div {
  background-color: #8cffa0;
  height: 150px;
  columns: 3;
  orphans: 3;
}

p {
  background-color: #8ca0ff;
}

p:first-child {
  margin-top: 0;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Fragmentation Module Level 3
# widows-orphans

Browser compatibility

See also