B.46. ime-mode

Chinese, Japanese and Korean writing systems have more characters than can fit on a typical keyboard. Windows deals with this with an Input Method Editor (IME). When the IME is active, the user can type a few keyboard characters to describe the actual character he or she wishes to insert, then choose it from a popup list. When the IME is inactive, the actual keyboard characters are inserted as typed.

This nonstandard property lets you set the default IME mode for a form field (input or textarea)—active or inactive—or even disable the IME entirely for that field.

Inherited: No

B.46.1. Value

active, auto, disabled, or inactive.

Initial value: auto

B.46.2. Compatibility

CSS Version: n/a

Internet Explorer 5 for Windows or later only.

B.46.3. Example

This style rule sets the IME to inactive by default in input and textarea elements of class latin:

input.latin, textarea.latin {
  ime-mode: inactive;
}