Position AFTER transform in CSS?

Question

Consider the following attempt to rotate a paragraph 90 degrees and position it so that the corner that was initially its top-left corner (and which therefore becomes its top-right corner after the rotation) ends up located at the top-right corner of the parent block.

HTML:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
  <div id="outer">
    <p id="text">Foo bar</p>
  </div>
</body>
</html>

CSS:

#outer {
    border: solid 1px red;
    width:600px;
    height: 600px;
    position: relative;
}

#text {
        transform: rotate(90deg); 
        position: absolute;
        top: 0;
        right: 0;
}

In Firefox 19.0.2 on OS X 10.6.8, it fails. This appears to be because, despite the order in which the CSS properties were given, the transformation is applied after the positioning. In other words, the browser:

places #text such that its top-right corner is located at the top-right corner of the parent block, but only then
rotates it, with the result that what is now its top-right corner is not located at the top-right corner of the parent block.

As a result, the transform-origin property isn't much use here. If, for instance, one used transform-origin: top right; then #text would need to be moved downwards by the width it had before it was rotated.

My question: is there a way to tell the browser to apply the CSS positioning properties after the rotation; and if not, then is there instead a way to move #text downwards (e.g. using top:) by the width it had before it was rotated?

NB. Ideally the solution should not require setting a fixed width: for #text, and must not require JavaScript.

Do you mean you want your text object to fit to the right-top corner of it's wrapper after rotation, right? — Farid Rn
@faridv, I want to rotate a <p> element 90 degrees clockwise and position it so that the corner that is its top-left corner before the rotation (and which therefore becomes its top-right corner after the rotation) ends up at exactly the same location as the top-right corner of the <p> element's parent block. — user82216
The order in which you write the two properties doesn't matter. Positioning is always applied before any transforms. — Ana
you mention the browsers it fails on; which browsers have you tested where it succeeds? — Spudley

Michael Michael · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-18T17:58:15

You can apply more than one transform to an element, and the order does matter. This is the simplest solution: http://jsfiddle.net/aNscn/41/

#outer {
    border: solid 1px red;
    width:600px;
    height: 600px;
    position: relative;
}

#text {
    background: lightBlue;
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    right: 0;

    transform: translate(100%) rotate(90deg);
    transform-origin: left top;

    -webkit-transform: translate(100%) rotate(90deg);
    -webkit-transform-origin: left top;
}

The transform origin is the point around which a transformation is applied. For example, the transform origin of the rotate() function is the center of rotation - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/transform-origin

Position AFTER transform in CSS?

6 Answers