Guide:Welcome to the museum of HTML. In the early days (HTML 3.2), before CSS was standard, developers needed a way to style text inline. Enter the tag.

⭐ 0 EXP

Interactive Tutorial Transcript

Welcome to the museum of HTML. In the early days (HTML 3.2), before CSS was standard, developers needed a way to style text inline. Enter the tag.

The tag wrapped text and allowed you to define the 'size', 'color', and 'face' (font family) for that specific text. It was an inline element, meaning it flowed with the text.

<p>This is <font size="5" color="red">huge red text</font> in a paragraph.</p>

Unlike <basefont>, wraps content and requires a closing tag. It was used extensively in the 90s to style individual words or phrases within paragraphs.

<p>Normal text <font size="4" color="blue" face="Arial">styled text</font> back to normal.</p>

However, if you try this in a modern browser like Chrome or Firefox today, the text may render, but it's deprecated. Browsers may drop support at any time. Why? Because CSS replaced it.

<p>Normal text <font size="4" color="blue">styled text</font> back to normal.</p>

Checkpoint: The tag is considered...

<font color="red">text</font>

So, how do we style text today? We use CSS. For inline styling, we use the 'span' element with CSS, or CSS classes. This separates content from presentation.

<p>Normal text <span style="font-size: 20px; color: blue;">styled text</span> back to normal.</p>

CSS separates content (HTML) from presentation (Styles). This is cleaner, more powerful, and supported by every modern browser.

<p>Normal text <span style="font-size: 20px; color: blue;">styled text</span> back to normal.</p>

Knowing about is important for maintaining very old legacy systems (from the 90s), but for new projects, always stick to CSS.


<font>


<span style="...">

You have explored a relic of the past! Ready to prove your knowledge of web history and modern standards? Login to take the challenge.

Deprecated Mastery

Unlock nodes by learning web history.

Concept 1: Deprecation

Technologies evolve. HTML tags that are replaced by better solutions (like CSS) are marked as deprecated.

System Check

What happens if you use a deprecated tag in a modern browser?

The computer crashes.It may be ignored or render incorrectly.It works perfectly forever.It is automatically converted to CSS.

Community Archive

Share Historical Finds

Found a legacy site still using font? Share the screenshot!

Enjoying this guide?

Codesyllabus is 100% free and open-source. Support our mission, pay for server infrastructure, and fuel new tutorials by buying us a coffee!

The Deprecated Tag

Pascual Vila

Frontend Instructor & Web Historian.

In the mid-90s, the web was a wild place. Before CSS became the standard for styling, HTML tags had to handle both structure and presentation. The  tag was one such tool.

What did it do?

The  tag was used to style text inline. It wrapped text content and allowed you to define the text color, font size, and font family for that specific text. Attributes included size, color, and face. Unlike <basefont>,  required a closing tag and was an inline element.

Why is it gone?

It violated the principle of Separation of Concerns. HTML should describe what content is (paragraph, heading), not how it looks (red, size 5). CSS was invented to handle the "how". Consequently,  was deprecated in HTML 4.01 and completely removed in HTML5.

The Modern Alternative

Today, you should use CSS for styling. For inline styling, use the span element with CSS:
styled text
Or better yet, use CSS classes: styled text with CSS rules.

Historical Glossary

Font: An obsolete HTML tag used to style text inline with attributes like size, color, and face. Not supported in HTML5.
Deprecated: A status applied to features that are discouraged from use and may be removed in future versions.
Inline Element: An element that flows with text and does not create a new line. Font was an inline element.
Separation of Concerns: The design principle of separating the content (HTML) from the presentation (CSS) and behavior (JavaScript).

html Documentation

📖 INDEX

The Font Tag