Web Design in a Nutshell

The <font> Tag

The <font> tag is an inline style tag used to specify the size, color, and font face for the enclosed text using the size, color, and face attributes, respectively. A single <font> tag may contain all of these attributes as shown:

<FONT FACE="sans-serif" COLOR="white" SIZE="+1">

For an explanation of acceptable values for the color attribute, refer to “Specifying Colors in HTML” in Chapter 5.

It should be noted that the <font> tag with all its attributes has been deprecated by the World Wide Web Consortium due to the fact that style sheets are now available and are considered superior for controlling presentation. It is still supported, but may become obsolete in future versions of HTML.

Specifying Size with <font>

You can use the size attribute within the <font> tag to adjust type size. This attribute is supported by versions 1.1 and higher of both Navigator and Internet Explorer.

Browsers measure type on a relative scale from 1 to 7, where 3 is the default and will be displayed at the size specified by the user’s preferences. These “virtual” sizes are relative, meaning they do not signify actual pixel or point adjustments. Each size is successively 20 percent smaller or larger than the default size, 3.

The size value can be specified as an absolute value from one to seven or as a relative value by means of a plus or minus sign. When relative values are given, the default value (which is 3, unless otherwise specified with a <basefont> tag) is increased or decreased by that ...