Deprecated tags and attributes

HTML does not stand still. Tim Berners-Lee got the ball rolling by defining some tags and their attributes, but there have been several revisions to the standard since that time.

A tag or attribute is deprecated when a new way to achieve the same effect is added to the HTML standard. For example, the <font> tag and its attributes were deprecated in HTML version 4.1 because the same effects could be achieved using style sheets, a more general way to change the appearance of text.

When new versions of browsers like Internet Explorer or Firefox come out, they support both new and deprecated features. If they did not support the deprecated features, they would not be able to display older Web pages.

You might wonder why I showed you the <font> tag if it is deprecated. I used it because it provides a simple, understandable example of the idea of an attribute and its values.

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