Why does nothing hyphenate while hyphens is set to manual?

Manual mode breaks a word only where a soft hyphen already exists, because browsers do not infer break points from spelling. The paragraph stays unhyphenated until you insert U+00AD characters with the panel below it.

Which character preset should I start from?

6 3 3 balanced is the middle ground: at least six characters in the word, three before the break and three after. Move to 5 2 2 for tight measures, where more breaks are wanted, and to 10 5 5 when breaks should be rare.

Does the tool ship hyphenation dictionaries?

No. It declares the language and the browser or operating system supplies the dictionary. A missing dictionary is the usual reason automatic hyphenation looks random on one machine and correct on another.

Why does the generated rule repeat max-width twice?

The second declaration is min(100%, the measure), so the block respects the container on small screens while continuing to honour the character measure when the room is there. The first declaration is the plain measure for older engines.

Can hyphenation break my brand name?

It can, because the browser follows the dictionary rather than your naming rules. Use manual mode and place soft hyphens yourself for terms that may break only at approved points.

Hyphenation Tester

Hyphenation settings

Font familyLanguagehyphens

hyphenate-limit-chars

Consecutive hyphenated lines

Measurech

Justify

Paragraph

Limit chars6 before / 3 after

Dictionary neededen-US hyphenation dictionary

Measure34ch — hyphenation optional

Rendered paragraph

Justification without hyphenation produces rivers of white; justification with hyphenation pulls the same text tight. Hyphenation is language-aware: a browser needs a dictionary for the declared language, and the hyphenation points come from that dictionary, not from the word's spelling.

With hyphens: manual, nothing here hyphenates until a soft hyphen is added — browsers do not infer word breaks without a dictionary.

Manual soft hyphen (U+00AD)

Word with hyphens marking allowed break points

Type a word with hyphens above to convert them to soft hyphens.

Soft hyphens are invisible and uncopyable-as-text in most editors; they are the right tool for a headline or a brand term where automatic rules would break the word badly.

css output

.hyphenated {
  font-family: 'Lora', serif;
  lang: "en-US";
  hyphens: auto;
  -webkit-hyphens: auto;
  hyphenate-limit-chars: 6 3 3;
  hyphenate-limit-lines: 2;
  text-align: left;
  max-width: 34ch;
  max-width: min(100%, 34ch);
}

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The hyphenation tester renders a paragraph with the CSS hyphenation controls applied and names the dictionary the browser needs for the selected language. You set the face, the language, the hyphens value, the character limits and the measure, and the readouts translate those choices into before and after minimums, the required dictionary and whether the measure makes hyphenation essential.

What is Hyphenation Tester?

The hyphenation tester is built around the controls that actually change output: hyphens, hyphenate-limit-chars, hyphenate-limit-lines and the measure of the container. The language-aware hyphenation that browsers implement requires a dictionary for the declared language, and the tool states which dictionary is needed rather than implying that any face will hyphenate correctly on its own. Alongside the automatic path, a separate panel converts a hyphenated word such as trans-contin-ental into invisible soft hyphen characters, which is the manual route for headlines and brand terms.

hyphens values: auto for the browser dictionary, manual for soft hyphens only, and none.
Languages: en-US, en-GB, de-DE labelled for long compounds, fr-FR, es-ES and pt-BR.
hyphenate-limit-chars presets: 5 2 2 aggressive, 6 3 3 balanced, 8 4 4 conservative and 10 5 5 minimal.
Consecutive hyphenated lines from 1 to 5, written as hyphenate-limit-lines.
Measure from 16ch to 90ch, defaulting to 34ch, with the readout calling hyphenation essential below 30ch and optional above it.
Justify is a separate switch that changes the paragraph to text-align: justify.
The manual panel renders the entered word with the hyphens replaced by U+00AD, so the soft hyphen positions can be checked in the chosen face.

The generated rule carries the standard hyphens property, the -webkit- prefixed copy for engines that still need it, the character limits, the consecutive-line cap and two max-width declarations, the second being min(100%, the measure in characters) so the block cannot overflow a narrow container. The limit readout splits the preset into its parts: 6 3 3 requires a word of at least six characters with three characters before the hyphen and three after it, which is why a word shorter than the combined minimum cannot break at all. With hyphens set to manual nothing hyphenates until a soft hyphen is inserted, because a browser will not infer a break point from spelling alone; that is the switch that keeps a brand term whole.

The dictionary comes from the browser or the operating system; the tool only declares the language.
Soft hyphens are invisible in most editors and are lost when copy passes through some tools.
Automatic hyphenation can break a proper noun or a product name in a way no dictionary check prevents.
The language selector must match the paragraph's real language, or the break points come from the wrong dictionary.
The preview paragraph is rendered at a fixed 16px, so behaviour at other sizes has to be judged elsewhere.

Use it when ragged-right text is producing a loose edge or when justified text needs tighter spacing, and treat the language setting as the switch that matters most rather than the character presets. When the measure itself is the variable, the same test belongs beside the justification model or the multi-column layout, where width and column count move together. If the goal is avoiding a short last line rather than breaking words at all, the widow and orphan detector measures the paragraph and flags the stranded line directly.

How to use Hyphenation Tester

Choose the face and the language whose hyphenation dictionary should apply.
Set hyphens to auto, manual or none, then pick the hyphenate-limit-chars preset.
Cap the consecutive hyphenated lines and set the measure until the readout calls hyphenation essential or optional.
Paste the copy, check the rendered paragraph, and copy the CSS block including the language declaration.

When to use Hyphenation Tester vs related tools

Open it when a narrow measure is leaving a ragged edge or when justified text needs the tighter spacing that hyphenation supplies. The character presets are a convenience, but the language switch is the one that decides whether break points come from a dictionary at all. When the paragraph's width is the open question rather than its breaks, the text justification previewer models the space stretch and the text column layout builder checks the measure across columns. A paragraph that breaks cleanly but still ends with one stranded word is the case the widow and orphan detector measures directly.

Privacy & Security

This tool runs entirely in your browser — no data ever leaves your device. There is no server round-trip, no upload, no logging, and no account required. Your input is processed locally using client-side JavaScript and is never stored, transmitted, or accessible to anyone else. When you close the tab, everything disappears.