[html] Vertical (rotated) text in HTML table

Is there a (portable) way to rotate text in a HTML table cell by 90°?

(I have a table with many columns and much text for the headings, so I'd like to write it vertically to save space.)

I was using the Font Awesome library and was able to achieve this affect by tacking on the following to any html element.

<div class="fa fa-rotate-270">
  My Test Text
</div>

Your mileage may vary.

IE filters plus CSS transforms (Safari and Firefox).

IE's support is the oldest, Safari has [at least some?] support in 3.1.2, and Firefox won't have support until 3.1.

Alternatively, I would recommend a mix of Canvas/VML or SVG/VML. (Canvas has wider support.)

I was using the Font Awesome library and was able to achieve this affect by tacking on the following to any html element.

<div class="fa fa-rotate-270">
  My Test Text
</div>

Your mileage may vary.

Alternate Solution?

Instead of rotating the text, would it work to have it written "top to bottom?"

Like this:

S  
O  
M  
E  

T  
E  
X  
T  

I think that would be a lot easier - you can pick a string of text apart and insert a line break after each character.

This could be done via JavaScript in the browser like this:

"SOME TEXT".split("").join("\n")

... or you could do it server-side, so it wouldn't depend on the client's JS capabilities. (I assume that's what you mean by "portable?")

Also the user doesn't have to turn his/her head sideways to read it. :)

Update

This thread is about doing this with jQuery.

Have a look at this, i found this while looking for a solution for IE 7.

totally a cool solution for css only vibes

Thanks aiboy for the soultion

heres the link

and here is the stack-overflow link where i came across this link meow

         .vertical-text-vibes{

                /* this is for shity "non IE" browsers
                   that dosn't support writing-mode */
                -webkit-transform: translate(1.1em,0) rotate(90deg);
                   -moz-transform: translate(1.1em,0) rotate(90deg);
                     -o-transform: translate(1.1em,0) rotate(90deg);
                        transform: translate(1.1em,0) rotate(90deg);
                -webkit-transform-origin: 0 0;
                   -moz-transform-origin: 0 0;
                     -o-transform-origin: 0 0;
                        transform-origin: 0 0;  
             /* IE9+ */    ms-transform: none;    
                   -ms-transform-origin: none;    
        /* IE8+ */    -ms-writing-mode: tb-rl;    
   /* IE7 and below */    *writing-mode: tb-rl;

            }

Alternate Solution?

Instead of rotating the text, would it work to have it written "top to bottom?"

Like this:

S  
O  
M  
E  

T  
E  
X  
T  

I think that would be a lot easier - you can pick a string of text apart and insert a line break after each character.

This could be done via JavaScript in the browser like this:

"SOME TEXT".split("").join("\n")

... or you could do it server-side, so it wouldn't depend on the client's JS capabilities. (I assume that's what you mean by "portable?")

Also the user doesn't have to turn his/her head sideways to read it. :)

Update

This thread is about doing this with jQuery.

After having tried for over two hours, I can safely say that all the method mentioned so far don't work across browsers, or for IE even across browser versions...

For example (top upvoted answer):

 filter:  progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=0.083);  /* IE6,IE7 */
     -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=0.083)"; /* IE8 */

rotates twice in IE9, once for filter, and once for -ms-filter, so...

All other mentioned methods do not work either, at least not if you have to set no fixed height/width of the table header cell (with background color), where it should automatically adjust to size of the highest element.

So to elaborate on the server-side image generation proposed by Nathan Long, which is really the only universially working method, here my VB.NET code for a generic handler (*.ashx ):

Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Services


Public Class GenerateImage
    Implements System.Web.IHttpHandler


    Sub ProcessRequest(ByVal context As HttpContext) Implements IHttpHandler.ProcessRequest
        'context.Response.ContentType = "text/plain"
        'context.Response.Write("Hello World!")
        context.Response.ContentType = "image/png"

        Dim strText As String = context.Request.QueryString("text")
        Dim strRotate As String = context.Request.QueryString("rotate")
        Dim strBGcolor As String = context.Request.QueryString("bgcolor")

        Dim bRotate As Boolean = True

        If String.IsNullOrEmpty(strText) Then
            strText = "No Text"
        End If


        Try
            If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(strRotate) Then
                bRotate = System.Convert.ToBoolean(strRotate)
            End If
        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try


        'Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = GenerateImage(strText, "Arial", bRotate)
        'Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = CreateBitmapImage(strText, bRotate)

        ' Generic error in GDI+
        'img.Save(context.Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)

        'Dim bm As System.Drawing.Bitmap = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(img)
        'bm.Save(context.Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)

        Using msTempOutputStream As New System.IO.MemoryStream
            'Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = GenerateImage(strText, "Arial", bRotate)
            Using img As System.Drawing.Image = CreateBitmapImage(strText, bRotate, strBGcolor)
                img.Save(msTempOutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
                msTempOutputStream.Flush()

                context.Response.Buffer = True
                context.Response.ContentType = "image/png"
                context.Response.BinaryWrite(msTempOutputStream.ToArray())
            End Using ' img

        End Using ' msTempOutputStream

    End Sub ' ProcessRequest


    Private Function CreateBitmapImage(strImageText As String) As System.Drawing.Image
        Return CreateBitmapImage(strImageText, True)
    End Function ' CreateBitmapImage


    Private Function CreateBitmapImage(strImageText As String, bRotate As Boolean) As System.Drawing.Image
        Return CreateBitmapImage(strImageText, bRotate, Nothing)
    End Function


    Private Function InvertMeAColour(ColourToInvert As System.Drawing.Color) As System.Drawing.Color
        Const RGBMAX As Integer = 255
        Return System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(RGBMAX - ColourToInvert.R, RGBMAX - ColourToInvert.G, RGBMAX - ColourToInvert.B)
    End Function



    Private Function CreateBitmapImage(strImageText As String, bRotate As Boolean, strBackgroundColor As String) As System.Drawing.Image
        Dim bmpEndImage As System.Drawing.Bitmap = Nothing

        If String.IsNullOrEmpty(strBackgroundColor) Then
            strBackgroundColor = "#E0E0E0"
        End If

        Dim intWidth As Integer = 0
        Dim intHeight As Integer = 0


        Dim bgColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.Color.LemonChiffon ' LightGray
        bgColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(strBackgroundColor)

        Dim TextColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.Color.Black
        TextColor = InvertMeAColour(bgColor)

        'TextColor = Color.FromArgb(102, 102, 102)



        ' Create the Font object for the image text drawing.
        Using fntThisFont As New System.Drawing.Font("Arial", 11, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Pixel)

            ' Create a graphics object to measure the text's width and height.
            Using bmpInitialImage As New System.Drawing.Bitmap(1, 1)

                Using gStringMeasureGraphics As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmpInitialImage)
                    ' This is where the bitmap size is determined.
                    intWidth = CInt(gStringMeasureGraphics.MeasureString(strImageText, fntThisFont).Width)
                    intHeight = CInt(gStringMeasureGraphics.MeasureString(strImageText, fntThisFont).Height)

                    ' Create the bmpImage again with the correct size for the text and font.
                    bmpEndImage = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(bmpInitialImage, New System.Drawing.Size(intWidth, intHeight))

                    ' Add the colors to the new bitmap.
                    Using gNewGraphics As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmpEndImage)
                        ' Set Background color
                        'gNewGraphics.Clear(Color.White)
                        gNewGraphics.Clear(bgColor)
                        gNewGraphics.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias
                        gNewGraphics.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias


                        ''''

                        'gNewGraphics.TranslateTransform(bmpEndImage.Width, bmpEndImage.Height)
                        'gNewGraphics.RotateTransform(180)
                        'gNewGraphics.RotateTransform(0)
                        'gNewGraphics.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.SystemDefault


                        gNewGraphics.DrawString(strImageText, fntThisFont, New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(TextColor), 0, 0)

                        gNewGraphics.Flush()

                        If bRotate Then
                            'bmpEndImage = rotateImage(bmpEndImage, 90)
                            'bmpEndImage = RotateImage(bmpEndImage, New PointF(0, 0), 90)
                            'bmpEndImage.RotateFlip(RotateFlipType.Rotate90FlipNone)
                            bmpEndImage.RotateFlip(System.Drawing.RotateFlipType.Rotate270FlipNone)
                        End If ' bRotate

                    End Using ' gNewGraphics

                End Using ' gStringMeasureGraphics

            End Using ' bmpInitialImage

        End Using ' fntThisFont

        Return bmpEndImage
    End Function ' CreateBitmapImage


    ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3zxbwxch.aspx
    ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7e1w5dhw.aspx
    ' http://www.informit.com/guides/content.aspx?g=dotnet&seqNum=286
    ' http://road-blogs.blogspot.com/2011/01/rotate-text-in-ssrs.html
    Public Shared Function GenerateImage_CrappyOldReportingServiceVariant(ByVal strText As String, ByVal strFont As String, bRotate As Boolean) As System.Drawing.Image
        Dim bgColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.Color.LemonChiffon ' LightGray
        bgColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#E0E0E0")


        Dim TextColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.Color.Black
        'TextColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 0, 255)

        If String.IsNullOrEmpty(strFont) Then
            strFont = "Arial"
        Else
            If strFont.Trim().Equals(String.Empty) Then
                strFont = "Arial"
            End If
        End If


        'Dim fsFontStyle As System.Drawing.FontStyle = System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular
        Dim fsFontStyle As System.Drawing.FontStyle = System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold
        Dim fontFamily As New System.Drawing.FontFamily(strFont)
        Dim iFontSize As Integer = 8 '//Change this as needed


        ' vice-versa, because 270° turn
        'Dim height As Double = 2.25
        Dim height As Double = 4
        Dim width As Double = 1

        ' width = 10
        ' height = 10

        Dim bmpImage As New System.Drawing.Bitmap(1, 1)
        Dim iHeight As Integer = CInt(height * 0.393700787 * bmpImage.VerticalResolution) 'y DPI
        Dim iWidth As Integer = CInt(width * 0.393700787 * bmpImage.HorizontalResolution) 'x DPI

        bmpImage = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(bmpImage, New System.Drawing.Size(iWidth, iHeight))



        '// Create the Font object for the image text drawing.
        'Dim MyFont As New System.Drawing.Font("Arial", iFontSize, fsFontStyle, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point)
        '// Create a graphics object to measure the text's width and height.
        Dim MyGraphics As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmpImage)
        MyGraphics.Clear(bgColor)


        Dim stringFormat As New System.Drawing.StringFormat()
        stringFormat.FormatFlags = System.Drawing.StringFormatFlags.DirectionVertical
        'stringFormat.FormatFlags = System.Drawing.StringFormatFlags.DirectionVertical Or System.Drawing.StringFormatFlags.DirectionRightToLeft
        Dim solidBrush As New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(TextColor)
        Dim pointF As New System.Drawing.PointF(CSng(iWidth / 2 - iFontSize / 2 - 2), 5)
        Dim font As New System.Drawing.Font(fontFamily, iFontSize, fsFontStyle, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point)


        MyGraphics.TranslateTransform(bmpImage.Width, bmpImage.Height)
        MyGraphics.RotateTransform(180)
        MyGraphics.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.SystemDefault
        MyGraphics.DrawString(strText, font, solidBrush, pointF, stringFormat)
        MyGraphics.ResetTransform()

        MyGraphics.Flush()

        'If Not bRotate Then
        'bmpImage.RotateFlip(System.Drawing.RotateFlipType.Rotate90FlipNone)
        'End If

        Return bmpImage
    End Function ' GenerateImage



    ReadOnly Property IsReusable() As Boolean Implements IHttpHandler.IsReusable
        Get
            Return False
        End Get
    End Property ' IsReusable


End Class

Note that if you think that this part

        Using msTempOutputStream As New System.IO.MemoryStream
            'Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = GenerateImage(strText, "Arial", bRotate)
            Using img As System.Drawing.Image = CreateBitmapImage(strText, bRotate, strBGcolor)
                img.Save(msTempOutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
                msTempOutputStream.Flush()

                context.Response.Buffer = True
                context.Response.ContentType = "image/png"
                context.Response.BinaryWrite(msTempOutputStream.ToArray())
            End Using ' img

        End Using ' msTempOutputStream

can be replaced with

img.Save(context.Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)

because it works on the development server, then you are sorely mistaken to assume the very same code wouldn't throw a Generic GDI+ exception if you deploy it to a Windows 2003 IIS 6 server...

then use it like this:

<img alt="bla" src="GenerateImage.ashx?no_cache=123&text=Hello%20World&rotate=true" />

My first contribution to the community , example as rotating a simple text and the header of a table, only using html and css.

HTML

<div class="rotate">text</div>

CSS

.rotate {
  display:inline-block;
  filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=3);
  -webkit-transform: rotate(270deg);
  -ms-transform: rotate(270deg);
  transform: rotate(270deg);
}

Here an example in jsfiddle

IE filters plus CSS transforms (Safari and Firefox).

IE's support is the oldest, Safari has [at least some?] support in 3.1.2, and Firefox won't have support until 3.1.

Alternatively, I would recommend a mix of Canvas/VML or SVG/VML. (Canvas has wider support.)

-moz-transform: rotate(7.5deg);  /* FF3.5+ */
-o-transform: rotate(7.5deg);  /* Opera 10.5 */
-webkit-transform: rotate(7.5deg);  /* Saf3.1+, Chrome */
filter:  progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=1);  /* IE6,IE7 allows only 1, 2, 3 */
-ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=1)"; /* IE8 allows only 1 2 or 3*/

After having tried for over two hours, I can safely say that all the method mentioned so far don't work across browsers, or for IE even across browser versions...

For example (top upvoted answer):

 filter:  progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=0.083);  /* IE6,IE7 */
     -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=0.083)"; /* IE8 */

rotates twice in IE9, once for filter, and once for -ms-filter, so...

All other mentioned methods do not work either, at least not if you have to set no fixed height/width of the table header cell (with background color), where it should automatically adjust to size of the highest element.

So to elaborate on the server-side image generation proposed by Nathan Long, which is really the only universially working method, here my VB.NET code for a generic handler (*.ashx ):

Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Services


Public Class GenerateImage
    Implements System.Web.IHttpHandler


    Sub ProcessRequest(ByVal context As HttpContext) Implements IHttpHandler.ProcessRequest
        'context.Response.ContentType = "text/plain"
        'context.Response.Write("Hello World!")
        context.Response.ContentType = "image/png"

        Dim strText As String = context.Request.QueryString("text")
        Dim strRotate As String = context.Request.QueryString("rotate")
        Dim strBGcolor As String = context.Request.QueryString("bgcolor")

        Dim bRotate As Boolean = True

        If String.IsNullOrEmpty(strText) Then
            strText = "No Text"
        End If


        Try
            If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(strRotate) Then
                bRotate = System.Convert.ToBoolean(strRotate)
            End If
        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try


        'Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = GenerateImage(strText, "Arial", bRotate)
        'Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = CreateBitmapImage(strText, bRotate)

        ' Generic error in GDI+
        'img.Save(context.Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)

        'Dim bm As System.Drawing.Bitmap = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(img)
        'bm.Save(context.Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)

        Using msTempOutputStream As New System.IO.MemoryStream
            'Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = GenerateImage(strText, "Arial", bRotate)
            Using img As System.Drawing.Image = CreateBitmapImage(strText, bRotate, strBGcolor)
                img.Save(msTempOutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
                msTempOutputStream.Flush()

                context.Response.Buffer = True
                context.Response.ContentType = "image/png"
                context.Response.BinaryWrite(msTempOutputStream.ToArray())
            End Using ' img

        End Using ' msTempOutputStream

    End Sub ' ProcessRequest


    Private Function CreateBitmapImage(strImageText As String) As System.Drawing.Image
        Return CreateBitmapImage(strImageText, True)
    End Function ' CreateBitmapImage


    Private Function CreateBitmapImage(strImageText As String, bRotate As Boolean) As System.Drawing.Image
        Return CreateBitmapImage(strImageText, bRotate, Nothing)
    End Function


    Private Function InvertMeAColour(ColourToInvert As System.Drawing.Color) As System.Drawing.Color
        Const RGBMAX As Integer = 255
        Return System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(RGBMAX - ColourToInvert.R, RGBMAX - ColourToInvert.G, RGBMAX - ColourToInvert.B)
    End Function



    Private Function CreateBitmapImage(strImageText As String, bRotate As Boolean, strBackgroundColor As String) As System.Drawing.Image
        Dim bmpEndImage As System.Drawing.Bitmap = Nothing

        If String.IsNullOrEmpty(strBackgroundColor) Then
            strBackgroundColor = "#E0E0E0"
        End If

        Dim intWidth As Integer = 0
        Dim intHeight As Integer = 0


        Dim bgColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.Color.LemonChiffon ' LightGray
        bgColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(strBackgroundColor)

        Dim TextColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.Color.Black
        TextColor = InvertMeAColour(bgColor)

        'TextColor = Color.FromArgb(102, 102, 102)



        ' Create the Font object for the image text drawing.
        Using fntThisFont As New System.Drawing.Font("Arial", 11, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Pixel)

            ' Create a graphics object to measure the text's width and height.
            Using bmpInitialImage As New System.Drawing.Bitmap(1, 1)

                Using gStringMeasureGraphics As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmpInitialImage)
                    ' This is where the bitmap size is determined.
                    intWidth = CInt(gStringMeasureGraphics.MeasureString(strImageText, fntThisFont).Width)
                    intHeight = CInt(gStringMeasureGraphics.MeasureString(strImageText, fntThisFont).Height)

                    ' Create the bmpImage again with the correct size for the text and font.
                    bmpEndImage = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(bmpInitialImage, New System.Drawing.Size(intWidth, intHeight))

                    ' Add the colors to the new bitmap.
                    Using gNewGraphics As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmpEndImage)
                        ' Set Background color
                        'gNewGraphics.Clear(Color.White)
                        gNewGraphics.Clear(bgColor)
                        gNewGraphics.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias
                        gNewGraphics.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias


                        ''''

                        'gNewGraphics.TranslateTransform(bmpEndImage.Width, bmpEndImage.Height)
                        'gNewGraphics.RotateTransform(180)
                        'gNewGraphics.RotateTransform(0)
                        'gNewGraphics.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.SystemDefault


                        gNewGraphics.DrawString(strImageText, fntThisFont, New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(TextColor), 0, 0)

                        gNewGraphics.Flush()

                        If bRotate Then
                            'bmpEndImage = rotateImage(bmpEndImage, 90)
                            'bmpEndImage = RotateImage(bmpEndImage, New PointF(0, 0), 90)
                            'bmpEndImage.RotateFlip(RotateFlipType.Rotate90FlipNone)
                            bmpEndImage.RotateFlip(System.Drawing.RotateFlipType.Rotate270FlipNone)
                        End If ' bRotate

                    End Using ' gNewGraphics

                End Using ' gStringMeasureGraphics

            End Using ' bmpInitialImage

        End Using ' fntThisFont

        Return bmpEndImage
    End Function ' CreateBitmapImage


    ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3zxbwxch.aspx
    ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7e1w5dhw.aspx
    ' http://www.informit.com/guides/content.aspx?g=dotnet&seqNum=286
    ' http://road-blogs.blogspot.com/2011/01/rotate-text-in-ssrs.html
    Public Shared Function GenerateImage_CrappyOldReportingServiceVariant(ByVal strText As String, ByVal strFont As String, bRotate As Boolean) As System.Drawing.Image
        Dim bgColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.Color.LemonChiffon ' LightGray
        bgColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#E0E0E0")


        Dim TextColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.Color.Black
        'TextColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 0, 255)

        If String.IsNullOrEmpty(strFont) Then
            strFont = "Arial"
        Else
            If strFont.Trim().Equals(String.Empty) Then
                strFont = "Arial"
            End If
        End If


        'Dim fsFontStyle As System.Drawing.FontStyle = System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular
        Dim fsFontStyle As System.Drawing.FontStyle = System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold
        Dim fontFamily As New System.Drawing.FontFamily(strFont)
        Dim iFontSize As Integer = 8 '//Change this as needed


        ' vice-versa, because 270° turn
        'Dim height As Double = 2.25
        Dim height As Double = 4
        Dim width As Double = 1

        ' width = 10
        ' height = 10

        Dim bmpImage As New System.Drawing.Bitmap(1, 1)
        Dim iHeight As Integer = CInt(height * 0.393700787 * bmpImage.VerticalResolution) 'y DPI
        Dim iWidth As Integer = CInt(width * 0.393700787 * bmpImage.HorizontalResolution) 'x DPI

        bmpImage = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(bmpImage, New System.Drawing.Size(iWidth, iHeight))



        '// Create the Font object for the image text drawing.
        'Dim MyFont As New System.Drawing.Font("Arial", iFontSize, fsFontStyle, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point)
        '// Create a graphics object to measure the text's width and height.
        Dim MyGraphics As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmpImage)
        MyGraphics.Clear(bgColor)


        Dim stringFormat As New System.Drawing.StringFormat()
        stringFormat.FormatFlags = System.Drawing.StringFormatFlags.DirectionVertical
        'stringFormat.FormatFlags = System.Drawing.StringFormatFlags.DirectionVertical Or System.Drawing.StringFormatFlags.DirectionRightToLeft
        Dim solidBrush As New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(TextColor)
        Dim pointF As New System.Drawing.PointF(CSng(iWidth / 2 - iFontSize / 2 - 2), 5)
        Dim font As New System.Drawing.Font(fontFamily, iFontSize, fsFontStyle, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point)


        MyGraphics.TranslateTransform(bmpImage.Width, bmpImage.Height)
        MyGraphics.RotateTransform(180)
        MyGraphics.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.SystemDefault
        MyGraphics.DrawString(strText, font, solidBrush, pointF, stringFormat)
        MyGraphics.ResetTransform()

        MyGraphics.Flush()

        'If Not bRotate Then
        'bmpImage.RotateFlip(System.Drawing.RotateFlipType.Rotate90FlipNone)
        'End If

        Return bmpImage
    End Function ' GenerateImage



    ReadOnly Property IsReusable() As Boolean Implements IHttpHandler.IsReusable
        Get
            Return False
        End Get
    End Property ' IsReusable


End Class

Note that if you think that this part

        Using msTempOutputStream As New System.IO.MemoryStream
            'Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = GenerateImage(strText, "Arial", bRotate)
            Using img As System.Drawing.Image = CreateBitmapImage(strText, bRotate, strBGcolor)
                img.Save(msTempOutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
                msTempOutputStream.Flush()

                context.Response.Buffer = True
                context.Response.ContentType = "image/png"
                context.Response.BinaryWrite(msTempOutputStream.ToArray())
            End Using ' img

        End Using ' msTempOutputStream

can be replaced with

img.Save(context.Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)

because it works on the development server, then you are sorely mistaken to assume the very same code wouldn't throw a Generic GDI+ exception if you deploy it to a Windows 2003 IIS 6 server...

then use it like this:

<img alt="bla" src="GenerateImage.ashx?no_cache=123&text=Hello%20World&rotate=true" />

-moz-transform: rotate(7.5deg);  /* FF3.5+ */
-o-transform: rotate(7.5deg);  /* Opera 10.5 */
-webkit-transform: rotate(7.5deg);  /* Saf3.1+, Chrome */
filter:  progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=1);  /* IE6,IE7 allows only 1, 2, 3 */
-ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=1)"; /* IE8 allows only 1 2 or 3*/

There is a quote in the original answer and my previous answer on the IE8 line that throws this off, right near the semi-colon. Yikes and BAAAAD! The code below has the rotation set correctly and works. You have to float in IE for the filter to be applied.

<div style="
    float: left; 
    position: relative;
    -moz-transform: rotate(270deg);  /* FF3.5+ */        
    -o-transform: rotate(270deg);  /* Opera 10.5 */   
    -webkit-transform: rotate(270deg);  /* Saf3.1+, Chrome */              
    filter:  progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=3);  /* IE6,IE7 */          
    -ms-filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=3); /* IE8 */           
"
>Count & Value</div>;

Here is one that works for plain-text with some server side processing:

public string RotateHtmltext(string innerHtml)
{
   const string TRANSFORMTEXT = "transform: rotate(90deg);";
   const string EXTRASTYLECSS = "<style type='text/css'>.r90 {"
                                 + "-webkit-" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "-moz-" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "-o-" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "-ms-" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "width:1em;line-height:1ex}</style>";
   const string WRAPPERDIV = "<div style='display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;'>";

   var newinnerHtml = string.Join("</div>"+WRAPPERDIV, Regex.Split(innerHtml, @"<br */?>").Reverse());

   newinnerHtml = Regex.Replace(newinnerHtml, @"((?:<[^>]*>)|(?:[^<]+))",
                                 match => match.Groups[1].Value.StartsWith("<")
                                             ? match.Groups[1].Value
                                             : string.Join("", match.Groups[1].Value.ToCharArray().Select(x=>"<div class='r90'>"+x+"</div>")),
                                 RegexOptions.Singleline);
   return EXTRASTYLECSS + WRAPPERDIV + newinnerHtml + "</div>";
}

which gives something like:

<style type="text/css">.r90 {
-webkit-transform: rotate(90deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(90deg);
-o-transform: rotate(90deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(90deg);
transform: rotate(90deg);
width: 1em;
line-height: 1ex; 
}</style>
<div style="display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;">
<div class="r90">p</div>
<div class="r90">o</div>
<div class="r90">s</div>
</div><div style="display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;">
<div class="r90">(</div>
<div class="r90">A</div>
<div class="r90">b</div>
<div class="r90">s</div>
<div class="r90">)</div>
</div>

http://jsfiddle.net/TzzHy/

Alternate Solution?

Instead of rotating the text, would it work to have it written "top to bottom?"

Like this:

S  
O  
M  
E  

T  
E  
X  
T  

I think that would be a lot easier - you can pick a string of text apart and insert a line break after each character.

This could be done via JavaScript in the browser like this:

"SOME TEXT".split("").join("\n")

... or you could do it server-side, so it wouldn't depend on the client's JS capabilities. (I assume that's what you mean by "portable?")

Also the user doesn't have to turn his/her head sideways to read it. :)

Update

This thread is about doing this with jQuery.

IE filters plus CSS transforms (Safari and Firefox).

IE's support is the oldest, Safari has [at least some?] support in 3.1.2, and Firefox won't have support until 3.1.

Alternatively, I would recommend a mix of Canvas/VML or SVG/VML. (Canvas has wider support.)

Another solution:

(function () {

    var make_rotated_text = function (text)
    {
        var can = document.createElement ('canvas');
        can.width = 10;
        can.height = 10;
        var ctx=can.getContext ("2d");
        ctx.font="20px Verdana";
        var m = ctx.measureText(text);
        can.width = 20;
        can.height = m.width;
        ctx.font="20px Verdana";
        ctx.fillStyle = "#000000";
        ctx.rotate(90 * (Math.PI / 180));
        ctx.fillText (text, 0, -2);
        return can;
    };

    var canvas = make_rotated_text ("Hellooooo :D");
    var body = document.getElementsByTagName ('body')[0];
    body.appendChild (canvas);

}) ();

I do absolutely admit that this is quite hackish, but it's a simple solution if you want to avoid bloating your css.

My first contribution to the community , example as rotating a simple text and the header of a table, only using html and css.

HTML

<div class="rotate">text</div>

CSS

.rotate {
  display:inline-block;
  filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=3);
  -webkit-transform: rotate(270deg);
  -ms-transform: rotate(270deg);
  transform: rotate(270deg);
}

Here an example in jsfiddle

Another solution:

(function () {

    var make_rotated_text = function (text)
    {
        var can = document.createElement ('canvas');
        can.width = 10;
        can.height = 10;
        var ctx=can.getContext ("2d");
        ctx.font="20px Verdana";
        var m = ctx.measureText(text);
        can.width = 20;
        can.height = m.width;
        ctx.font="20px Verdana";
        ctx.fillStyle = "#000000";
        ctx.rotate(90 * (Math.PI / 180));
        ctx.fillText (text, 0, -2);
        return can;
    };

    var canvas = make_rotated_text ("Hellooooo :D");
    var body = document.getElementsByTagName ('body')[0];
    body.appendChild (canvas);

}) ();

I do absolutely admit that this is quite hackish, but it's a simple solution if you want to avoid bloating your css.

There is a quote in the original answer and my previous answer on the IE8 line that throws this off, right near the semi-colon. Yikes and BAAAAD! The code below has the rotation set correctly and works. You have to float in IE for the filter to be applied.

<div style="
    float: left; 
    position: relative;
    -moz-transform: rotate(270deg);  /* FF3.5+ */        
    -o-transform: rotate(270deg);  /* Opera 10.5 */   
    -webkit-transform: rotate(270deg);  /* Saf3.1+, Chrome */              
    filter:  progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=3);  /* IE6,IE7 */          
    -ms-filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(rotation=3); /* IE8 */           
"
>Count & Value</div>;

Here is one that works for plain-text with some server side processing:

public string RotateHtmltext(string innerHtml)
{
   const string TRANSFORMTEXT = "transform: rotate(90deg);";
   const string EXTRASTYLECSS = "<style type='text/css'>.r90 {"
                                 + "-webkit-" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "-moz-" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "-o-" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "-ms-" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "" + TRANSFORMTEXT
                                 + "width:1em;line-height:1ex}</style>";
   const string WRAPPERDIV = "<div style='display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;'>";

   var newinnerHtml = string.Join("</div>"+WRAPPERDIV, Regex.Split(innerHtml, @"<br */?>").Reverse());

   newinnerHtml = Regex.Replace(newinnerHtml, @"((?:<[^>]*>)|(?:[^<]+))",
                                 match => match.Groups[1].Value.StartsWith("<")
                                             ? match.Groups[1].Value
                                             : string.Join("", match.Groups[1].Value.ToCharArray().Select(x=>"<div class='r90'>"+x+"</div>")),
                                 RegexOptions.Singleline);
   return EXTRASTYLECSS + WRAPPERDIV + newinnerHtml + "</div>";
}

which gives something like:

<style type="text/css">.r90 {
-webkit-transform: rotate(90deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(90deg);
-o-transform: rotate(90deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(90deg);
transform: rotate(90deg);
width: 1em;
line-height: 1ex; 
}</style>
<div style="display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;">
<div class="r90">p</div>
<div class="r90">o</div>
<div class="r90">s</div>
</div><div style="display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;">
<div class="r90">(</div>
<div class="r90">A</div>
<div class="r90">b</div>
<div class="r90">s</div>
<div class="r90">)</div>
</div>

http://jsfiddle.net/TzzHy/