Summarized test results:
Word-break

Intended audience: users, XHTML/HTML coders (using editors or scripting), script developers (PHP, JSP, etc.), CSS coders, Web project managers, and anyone who wants to know how well browsers support the line breaking properties of Unicode characters.

Updated

These tests check whether browsers implement the CSS3 Text specification for the word-break property, and whether they handle wrapping as expected for South East Asian and Far Eastern scripts. The South East Asian scripts wrap at word boundaries, but those boundaries are not indicated by the use of spaces or other characters. Typically a lexical parser is needed to support wrapping. Far Eastern scripts tend to wrap at syllable boundaries, in the simple cases tested here. This applies also to Korean even though (unlike Chinese or Japanese) it separates words with spaces.

Note that the snapshot summaries of these test results are for released versions of the browsers tested. Versions that are still in development may provide better support for these features. The tests themselves do not test any vendor prefixes.

Results

To see the test, click on the link in the left-most column. To see detailed results for a single test, click on the link in the right-most column. To submit test data for a single test, click on the link in the right-most column and then follow the link on that page.

The tables show the latest results from the W3C Test Framework. Below the tables are summaries of the results at a given date. The table data may be more up-to-date than the summary. The tables may also contain some incorrectly scored tests, and tests that relate to non-released versions of browsers. These are not included in the summary.

Word-break

Assertion Gecko Presto Trident WebKit Detailed results
word-break: break-all The browser will break text at character boundaries for all text when word-break is set to break-all.
word-break: break-all, Arabic When shaping scripts such as Arabic are allowed to break within words due to break-all, the characters must still be shaped as if the word were not broken. .
word-break: keep-all The browser will break text at space boundaries for all text when word-break is set to keep-all.

Snapshot summary, 2012-08-30
Chrome 21.0.1180.82, Firefox 14.0.1, Internet Explorer 9.0, Opera 11.61, Safari 6.0

Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari all support word-break: break-all, but only Internet Explorer supports word-break: keep-all.

None of the above preserve joining glyphs when Arabic text within a word is moved to the next line.

SouthEast Asian scripts

Assertion Gecko Presto Trident WebKit Detailed results
word-break: normal, Thai [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries in Thai.
word-break: normal, Lao [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries in Lao.
word-break: normal, Burmese [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries in Burmese.
word-break: normal, Khmer [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries in Khmer.
word-break: normal, Tai Viet [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries in Tai Viet script.
word-break: normal, Tai Le [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries in Tai Le script.
word-break: normal, New Tai Lue [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries in New Tai Lue script.
word-break: normal, Tai Tham [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries in Tai Tham script.

Snapshot summary, 2012-08-24
Chrome 21.0.1180.82, Firefox 14.0.1, Internet Explorer 9.0, Opera 11.61, Safari 6.0

Thai is the only script where word breaks are supported, but the behaviour is supported by all browsers except Opera.

FarEastern scripts

Assertion Gecko Presto Trident WebKit Detailed results
word-break: normal, Ideographic [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at character boundaries for simple ideographic text.
word-break: normal, Hiragana [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at character boundaries for text in hiragana.
word-break: normal, Katakana [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at character boundaries for text in katakana.
word-break: normal, Hangul [Exploratory test] The browser will break text at word boundaries for text in Korean hangul.

Snapshot summary, 2012-08-24
Chrome 21.0.1180.82, Firefox 14.0.1, Internet Explorer 9.0, Opera 11.61, Safari 6.0

Wrapping of ideographic, hiragana and katakana text works as expected on all browsers. So also does wrapping of Korean hangul text.