Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Font Elements

The font element—an inline element used to specify the size, color, and font face for the enclosed text using the size, color, and face attributes, respectively—is the poster child for what went wrong with HTML. It was first introduced by Netscape Navigator as a means to give authors control over font formatting not available with HTML at the time (and for good reason). Netscape was rewarded with a temporary slew of loyal users, but the HTML standard and web development community paid a steep price in the long run.

Another deprecated font-related element, basefont, is used to set the font face, color, and size for an entire document when it is in the head of the document or for subsequent text when it is placed in the body.

The font element is emphatically deprecated, and you will be ridiculed by your peers for using it. I’m not kidding. Don’t use it. For the sake of historical reference and thoroughness in documenting the HTML and XHTML Transitional DTDs, it is included in this chapter with some basic explanation.