How can I use CSS3 transform on a span?

Question

I have an inline element (a <span>) nested in a <h1> tag. I applied a transform property to the h1 ( skew so it looks like a parallelogram).
I need to transform the <span> tag to "unskew" it and its text. But this only seems to work in IE.

Here is an example of the HTML and CSS:

h1 {
  background: #f00;
  padding: .25em .5em;
  text-align: right;
  transform: skew(-15deg);
}
h1 span {
  color: #fff;
  transform: skew(15deg);
}

<h1><span>This is a Title</span></h1>

Answer 1

Explanation:
A <span> or a link (<a>) are inline elements and the transform property doesn't apply to inline elements.
Here is the list of transformable elements from the CSS Transforms Module Level 1.

Solution:
Set the display property of the span to inline-block or block. This will let you apply transforms to the span element.
It also works for other inline elements like <a> <em> <strong>... (see the list of inline elements on MDN).

Here is a demo with the <span> and link <a> elements :

h1 {
  background: teal;
  padding: .25em .5em;
  margin: 1em;
  transform: skew(-15deg);
}
h1 span,
h1 a {
  color: #fff;
  display: inline-block;  /* <- ADD THIS */
  transform: skew(15deg);
}

<h1><span>This is a span in a title</span></h1>
<h1><a href="#">This is a link in a title</a></h1>

Answer 2

A little late here, but you can set

h1 span{
   position:absolute;
}

Then use the CSS3 transform properties normally. Demo:

h1 {
  background: #f00;
  padding: .25em .5em;
  text-align: right;
  transform: skew(-15deg);
  height: 40px;
}

h1 span {
  position: absolute;
  left: 20px;
  color: #fff;
  transform: skew(15deg);
}

<h1><span>This is a Title</span></h1>