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Deprecated Elements and Attributes

This page shows all elements as well as all structural attributes and presentation attributes that are deprecated in HTML 4.01.

The target audience of this page is the content developer of the web sites for use by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

The content has been taken from the W3C HTML Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (www.w3.org/TR/2000/NOTE-WCAG10-HTML-TECHS-20001106/)

Elements that are deprecated in HTML 4.01

<applet>: Allows embedding of a Java applet into HTML documents; Recommended solution: Use <object>
<basefont>: Used to set the base font size for the page; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
<center>: Centre aligns the enclosed objects; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
<dir>: Indicates that the listing is a directory and works with <li> in the same way <ul> does while generally rendering the same way; Recommended solution: Use <ul> or stylesheets
<font>: Assigns various font effects on the text; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
<isindex>: Indicates that the user should provide a single line text input field for entering a query string; Recommended solution: Use the <form> element enclosing the <input> element
<menu>: Indicates the start a series of choices and is generally rendered like <ul>; Recommended solution: Use <ul> or stylesheets
<s>: Creates a strike-through effect on the text (equivalent to the <strike> element); Recommended solution: Use the <del> element, or use stylesheets for presentation effects only
<strike>: Creates a strike-through effect on the text (equivalent to the <s> element); Recommended solution: Use the <del> element, or use stylesheets for presentation effects only
<u>: Underlines the text; Recommended solution: Do not underline text

Structural attributes that are deprecated in HTML 4.01

start | value

start: Specifies the starting number of the first item in an ordered list; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
value: Sets the number of the current list item; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets

Presentation attributes that are deprecated in HTML 4.01

align: Specifies the position of the object with respect to the container or document; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
alink: Sets the color of text marking hypertext links when selected by the user (for visual browsers); Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
background: The value of this attribute is a URI that designates an image resource. The image generally tiles the background (for visual browsers).
bgcolor: Sets the background color for the document body or table cells; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
clear: Specifies where the next line should appear in a visual browser after the line break caused by this element; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
color: Sets the text color; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
compact: When set, this boolean attribute gives a hint to visual user agents to render the list in a more compact way; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
face: Defines a comma-separated list of font names the user agent should search for in order of preference; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
hspace: Specifies the amount of white space to be inserted to the left and right of an <img>, <applet>, or <object>; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
link: Sets the color of text marking unvisited hypertext links (for visual browsers); Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
noshade: When set, this boolean attribute requests that the user agent render the rule in a solid color rather than as the traditional two-color "groove"; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
nowrap: When present, this boolean attribute tells visual user agents to disable automatic text wrapping for this cell; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
size: specifies the height of the element or the target; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
text: Sets the foreground color for text (for visual browsers); Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
valign: Specifies the vertical position of data within a cell; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
vlink: Sets the color of text marking visited hypertext links (for visual browsers); Recommended solution: Use stylesheets
vspace: Specifies the amount of white space to be inserted above and below an <img>, <applet>, or <object>; Recommended solution: Use stylesheets