CSS Logiska Egenskaper Guide: Skrivlägen, RTL-stöd och Moderna Layouter

CSS Logical Properties replace physical directional keywords (top, right, bottom, left) with logical equivalents that adapt to the writing mode and text direction. Instead of margin-left, you write margin-inline-start — and it automatically becomes the correct side in both left-to-right and right-to-left layouts. This makes building truly internationalized UIs dramatically simpler.

Physical vs Logical: The Core Concept

Physical properties are tied to the screen coordinates. Logical properties are relative to the document's writing mode and text direction.

/* CSS Logical Properties vs Physical Properties */

/* PHYSICAL (old way) — tied to top/right/bottom/left */
.box {
  margin-top: 1rem;
  margin-right: 2rem;
  margin-bottom: 1rem;
  margin-left: 2rem;

  padding-left: 1.5rem;
  padding-right: 1.5rem;

  border-left: 2px solid blue;

  width: 300px;
  height: 200px;
}

/* LOGICAL (new way) — relative to writing direction */
.box {
  margin-block: 1rem;        /* top + bottom  → block start + end */
  margin-inline: 2rem;       /* left + right  → inline start + end */

  padding-inline: 1.5rem;    /* horizontal padding in any direction */

  border-inline-start: 2px solid blue;  /* 'left' in LTR, 'right' in RTL */

  inline-size: 300px;        /* width  in horizontal writing */
  block-size: 200px;         /* height in horizontal writing */
}

Understanding Inline and Block Axes

Logical properties use two axes: inline (the direction text flows) and block (the direction blocks are stacked). In English, inline is horizontal and block is vertical. In vertical Japanese text, they swap.

/* Understanding inline vs block axes */

/*
  Horizontal writing mode (default English):
  - inline axis → left ←→ right  (text flows horizontally)
  - block axis  → top ↕ bottom   (blocks stack vertically)

  Vertical writing mode (Japanese, for example):
  - inline axis → top ↕ bottom   (text flows vertically)
  - block axis  → left ←→ right  (blocks stack horizontally)
*/

/* Logical shorthand properties */
.element {
  /* block = top/bottom, inline = left/right */
  margin-block: 1rem 2rem;      /* block-start: 1rem, block-end: 2rem */
  margin-inline: auto;          /* center horizontally (in LTR or RTL!) */

  padding-block-start: 0.5rem;  /* padding-top in LTR */
  padding-block-end: 0.5rem;    /* padding-bottom in LTR */
  padding-inline-start: 1rem;   /* padding-left in LTR, padding-right in RTL */
  padding-inline-end: 1rem;     /* padding-right in LTR, padding-left in RTL */

  /* Size */
  inline-size: 100%;            /* width in horizontal writing */
  min-inline-size: 200px;       /* min-width */
  max-inline-size: 800px;       /* max-width */
  block-size: auto;             /* height */

  /* Position (for position: absolute) */
  inset-block-start: 0;         /* top */
  inset-inline-start: 0;        /* left */
  inset: 0;                     /* all four sides */
}

RTL Support Without Duplicate CSS

The killer use case for logical properties: writing one set of CSS that works for both LTR (English, French) and RTL (Arabic, Hebrew) without any direction-specific overrides.

/* RTL support without duplicate CSS */

/* OLD WAY: separate RTL stylesheet */
/* main.css */
.sidebar {
  margin-left: 0;
  margin-right: 280px;
  padding-left: 1rem;
  border-right: 1px solid #ccc;
}

/* rtl.css (or [dir="rtl"] overrides) */
[dir="rtl"] .sidebar {
  margin-left: 280px;  /* override */
  margin-right: 0;
  padding-left: 0;
  padding-right: 1rem;
  border-right: none;
  border-left: 1px solid #ccc;
}

/* --------------------------------------- */

/* NEW WAY: logical properties handle it automatically */
.sidebar {
  /* No [dir="rtl"] override needed! */
  margin-inline-start: 0;
  margin-inline-end: 280px;       /* gap before main content */
  padding-inline-start: 1rem;
  border-inline-end: 1px solid #ccc;
  /* In RTL: margin-inline-start becomes right side automatically */
}

/* Example: icon + label that works in any direction */
.icon-label {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  gap: 0.5rem;
}

.icon-label .icon {
  margin-inline-end: 0.5rem;  /* space between icon and label */
  /* In LTR: margin-right: 0.5rem */
  /* In RTL: margin-left: 0.5rem  — automatic! */
}

Borders and Border Radius

All border properties have logical equivalents, including the somewhat verbose border-radius logical properties.

/* Borders with logical properties */

/* Physical */
.card {
  border-top: 2px solid blue;
  border-bottom: 1px solid gray;
  border-left: 4px solid red;    /* accent border */
  border-right: none;

  border-top-left-radius: 8px;
  border-top-right-radius: 8px;
}

/* Logical */
.card {
  border-block-start: 2px solid blue;   /* top */
  border-block-end: 1px solid gray;     /* bottom */
  border-inline-start: 4px solid red;   /* left in LTR, right in RTL */
  border-inline-end: none;

  border-start-start-radius: 8px;  /* top-left in LTR */
  border-start-end-radius: 8px;    /* top-right in LTR */
}

/* Shorthand */
.card {
  border-block: 1px solid #eee;     /* top AND bottom */
  border-inline: 2px solid #ccc;    /* left AND right */
}

Migration Guide

How to systematically convert an existing codebase from physical to logical properties.

/* Migration strategy: replace physical with logical */

/* Step 1: Search & Replace mapping */
/*
  margin-top     → margin-block-start
  margin-bottom  → margin-block-end
  margin-left    → margin-inline-start
  margin-right   → margin-inline-end
  margin: T R B L → margin-block: T B; margin-inline: L R;

  padding-top    → padding-block-start
  padding-bottom → padding-block-end
  padding-left   → padding-inline-start
  padding-right  → padding-inline-end

  width          → inline-size
  height         → block-size
  min-width      → min-inline-size
  max-width      → max-inline-size
  min-height     → min-block-size
  max-height     → max-block-size

  top            → inset-block-start
  bottom         → inset-block-end
  left           → inset-inline-start
  right          → inset-inline-end
*/

/* Step 2: Enable writing mode for testing */
.test-rtl {
  direction: rtl;   /* test RTL layout without changing HTML */
}

.test-vertical {
  writing-mode: vertical-rl;  /* test vertical layout */
}

/* Step 3: Keep physical for TRULY physical things */
.avatar {
  /* These should stay physical — they don't relate to text direction */
  border-radius: 50%;        /* always round */
  width: 48px;               /* OR inline-size: 48px for consistency */
  height: 48px;
}

Complete Property Mapping Reference

Browser Support (2026)

All CSS Logical Properties have full browser support in 2026. The basic properties (margin-block, margin-inline, padding-block, padding-inline) have been supported since Chrome 87, Firefox 66, and Safari 14.1. Only the border-radius logical variants (border-start-start-radius, etc.) required Safari 15+ for full support.

Frequently Asked Questions