Which CSS properties are inherited?

Question

I've noticed that some properties are inherited in CSS, and some are not. For example, the text-size property is inherited, but the padding and margin are not inherited by the child blocks. So how to figure out which properties are inherited, and which are not?

Solution 1

Here is the list of all inheritable properies. I'm working with W3C's information, so I'd guess it should be correct. But knowing web browsers (IE specifically), some of these might not be inheritable by all browsers:

1. azimuth
2. border-collapse
3. border-spacing
4. caption-side
5. color
6. cursor
7. direction
8. elevation
9. empty-cells
10. font-family
11. font-size
12. font-style
13. font-variant
14. font-weight
15. font
16. letter-spacing
17. line-height
18. list-style-image
19. list-style-position
20. list-style-type
21. list-style
22. orphans
23. pitch-range
24. pitch
25. quotes
26. richness
27. speak-header
28. speak-numeral
29. speak-punctuation
30. speak
31. speech-rate
32. stress
33. text-align
34. text-indent
35. text-transform
36. visibility
37. voice-family
38. volume
39. white-space
40. widows
41. word-spacing

Solution 2

Blender's and Shaz's lists both enumerate all the inherited CSS 2.1 properties, including those for aural media such as azimuth. Here below is a list without the aural-oriented properties, now including CSS3 properties.

1. border-collapse
2. border-spacing
3. caption-side
4. color
5. cursor
6. direction
7. empty-cells
8. font-family
9. font-size
10. font-style
11. font-variant
12. font-weight
13. font-size-adjust
14. font-stretch
15. font
16. letter-spacing
17. line-height
18. list-style-image
19. list-style-position
20. list-style-type
21. list-style
22. orphans
23. quotes
24. tab-size
25. text-align
26. text-align-last
27. text-decoration-color
28. text-indent
29. text-justify
30. text-shadow
31. text-transform
32. visibility
33. white-space
34. widows
35. word-break
36. word-spacing
37. word-wrap

Solution 3

• azimuth
• border-collapse
• border-spacing
• caption-side
• color
• cursor
• direction
• elevation
• empty-cells
• font-family font-size
• font-style
• font-variant
• font-weight
• font
• letter-spacing
• line-height
• list-style-image
• list-style-position
• list-style-type
• list-style
• orphans
• pitch-range
• pitch quotes
• richness
• speak-header
• speak-numeral
• speak-punctuation
• speak
• speech-rate
• stress
• text-align
• text-indent
• text-transform
• visibility
• voice-family
• volume
• white-space
• widows
• word-spacing

^Source

Comments

[Undefitied]

You can also set inherit by yourself to any property, i.e. width: inherit;

[Blender]

Did you just copy this over from my answer?

[Shaz]

@Blender: Nope, I found a slide from http://www.slideshare.net..css-inheritance It was listed as a source before you even posted. :)

[Blender]

But you originally had an image. Oh well.

[Shaz]

@Blender: Yes, I transferred it to text. I didn't copy/paste yours. No worries.

[Déjà vu]

@Blender note that this answer has text-index that should be text-indent.

[Joseph Webber]

The accepted answer has a link to the exact same resource.

[Panu Logic]

I see the link now but it does not really really tell you that is the place to go to look up the authoritative answer for yourself. It merely says "I'm working WITH W3C's information". Rather than "working with" it's more like "I copied my list from this official resource". It's useful to point out for the readers that that is the source from which they can find out the exact same information for themselves and possibly more up-to-date information. Just because an answer has been "accepted" doesn't mean it can not be improved upon.

[Joseph Webber]

If an answer can be improved upon, leave a comment on it saying what you would improve or edit it yourself.

[Panu Logic]

I think it is better to give a separate alternative answer when you think you have a better one, the original author might be offended if you point out you think there is something "wrong" with their answer. And there's too much negativity on Stack Overflow already.