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text-wrap: balance and pretty

When to Use

For typographic polish — preventing awkward single-word orphans on headings and avoiding ragged last lines in body copy, without manual <br> tags or JavaScript.

Decision

If you need... Use... Notes
Balanced heading that breaks evenly across lines text-wrap: balance Browser balances line lengths; max ~6 lines
Body text without orphaned last word text-wrap: pretty Adjusts last few lines to prevent short last line
Long body copy performance Avoid balance balance is expensive on long blocks; use pretty instead
Safari support for last-line orphan control text-wrap: balance pretty not yet in Safari as of early 2026

Pattern

/* Headings — balanced line breaks */
h1, h2, h3, h4 {
  text-wrap: balance;
}

/* Body copy — prevent orphaned last word */
p, blockquote, li {
  text-wrap: pretty;
}

balance behavior: The browser rebalances all lines so they are approximately equal width. Best for headings of up to ~6 lines. On longer text blocks, the rebalancing becomes visible as content shifts during load and the performance cost rises.

pretty behavior: Only adjusts the last few lines (typically the last 4 in Chrome's implementation) to prevent a short word from sitting alone on the final line. No visible rebalancing — safe for body copy.

Browser support: - text-wrap: balance — Chrome 114, Firefox 121, Safari 17.5. Safe to use. - text-wrap: pretty — Chrome 117, Firefox 134, Safari not yet (expected in Safari 26+). Use as progressive enhancement.

Common Mistakes

  • Applying text-wrap: balance to long paragraphs — performance cost is real; the browser recalculates the entire block on resize; limit to headings and short display text
  • Expecting pretty to affect the whole paragraph — it intentionally adjusts only the last few lines; it does not rebalance the entire text block
  • Using text-wrap: balance expecting it to prevent orphans on body copy — it rebalances lines equally which may or may not prevent a short last word; pretty is the right tool for that

See Also