Force “landscape” orientation mode

Question

I'm trying to force the "landscape" mode for my application because my application is absolutely not designed for the "portrait" mode. How can I do that?

Answer 1

It is now possible with the HTML5 webapp manifest. See below.

---

Original answer:

You can't lock a website or a web application in a specific orientation. It goes against the natural behaviour of the device.

You can detect the device orientation with CSS3 media queries like this:

@media screen and (orientation:portrait) {
    // CSS applied when the device is in portrait mode
}

@media screen and (orientation:landscape) {
    // CSS applied when the device is in landscape mode
}

Or by binding a JavaScript orientation change event like this:

document.addEventListener("orientationchange", function(event){
    switch(window.orientation) 
    {  
        case -90: case 90:
            /* Device is in landscape mode */
            break; 
        default:
            /* Device is in portrait mode */
    }
});

---

Update on November 12, 2014: It is now possible with the HTML5 webapp manifest.

As explained on html5rocks.com, you can now force the orientation mode using a manifest.json file.

You need to include those line into the json file:

{
    "display":      "standalone", /* Could be "fullscreen", "standalone", "minimal-ui", or "browser" */
    "orientation":  "landscape", /* Could be "landscape" or "portrait" */
    ...
}

And you need to include the manifest into your html file like this:

<link rel="manifest" href="manifest.json">

Not exactly sure what the support is on the webapp manifest for locking orientation mode, but Chrome is definitely there. Will update when I have the info.

Answer 2

screen.orientation.lock('landscape');

Will force it to change to and stay in landscape mode. Tested on Nexus 5.

http://www.w3.org/TR/screen-orientation/#examples

Answer 3

I use some css like this (based on css tricks):

@media screen and (min-width: 320px) and (max-width: 767px) and (orientation: portrait) {
  html {
    transform: rotate(-90deg);
    transform-origin: left top;
    width: 100vh;
    height: 100vw;
    overflow-x: hidden;
    position: absolute;
    top: 100%;
    left: 0;
  }
}

Answer 4

I had the same problem, it was a missing manifest.json file, if not found the browser decide with orientation is best fit, if you don't specify the file or use a wrong path.

I fixed just calling the manifest.json correctly on html headers.

My html headers:

<meta name="application-name" content="App Name">
<meta name="mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black" />
<link rel="manifest" href="manifest.json">
<meta name="msapplication-starturl" content="/">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#">
<meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#">
<meta name="msapplication-config" content="browserconfig.xml">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="192x192" href="android-chrome-192x192.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="apple-touch-icon.png">
<link rel="mask-icon" href="safari-pinned-tab.svg" color="#ffffff">
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico">

And the manifest.json file content:

{
  "display": "standalone",
  "orientation": "portrait",
  "start_url": "/",
  "theme_color": "#000000",
  "background_color": "#ffffff",
  "icons": [
  {
    "src": "android-chrome-192x192.png",
    "sizes": "192x192",
    "type": "image/png"
  }
}

To generate your favicons and icons use this webtool: https://realfavicongenerator.net/

To generate your manifest file use: https://tomitm.github.io/appmanifest/

My PWA Works great, hope it helps!