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The following tables compare deprecated and proprietary HTML tags and attributes compatibility and support for a number of layout engines. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.
In the early years of the World Wide Web, the standards which today are used in most web browsers and web pages were mostly non-existent. Different browsers and HTML editors were being offered by competing vendors such as Netscape, Microsoft and WebTV, all of whom possessed their own ideas for how web sites should be constructed. These varying standards resulted in web developers coding for specific web browsers, using tags which could often be recognized by only one browser.
Contents |
Explanation of the tables
Engine nomenclature
Rather than the names of web browsers, the names of the underlying engines are used. The browsers that use the various engines are listed below.
| Layout Engine | Used By |
|---|---|
| Trident (also known as MSHTML) | Internet Explorer 4 to Internet Explorer 8 |
| Tasman | Internet Explorer 5 for Mac; MSN for Mac OS X |
| Gecko | All Mozilla software, including Firefox; Galeon; Flock; also Epiphany |
| WebKit | Safari; Shiira; iCab 4; Epiphany; Adobe Air; Google Chrome; Midori; OmniWeb; Adobe Dreamweaver CS4; |
| KHTML | Konqueror |
| Presto | Opera; Nintendo DS Browser; Internet Channel; future Adobe Systems products |
| iCab | iCab 1-3 |
| Prince XML | Prince XML |
| Amaya | Amaya |
Values
Values indicate the level of support in the most recent version of the layout engine, or (if a version number is given) in the specified version. Version numbers without any other value indicate the version at which the layout engine first fully supported the feature.
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Yes | Indicates that the layout engine fully supports this property when valid values are used. |
| No | Indicates that this property is completely ignored. |
| Partial | Indicates that the property is understood, but that not all values are supported. Supported values are implemented correctly. |
| Incorrect | Indicates that the property is understood, but that it is not implemented correctly in all cases. |
| Experimental | Indicates that the property is provided in experimental form under an alternative name, generally with only partial functionality. |
Deprecated HTML tags
| Tag | Function | Supported first by | Deprecated in W3C HTML Version | Alternative Solution | Trident | Tasman | Gecko | WebKit | KHTML | Presto | iCab | Prince XML |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <applet> | Insert an applet | HotJava | 4 [1] | <object> | 4.0 | Yes | 1.7 | Yes | Yes | 7.0 | Yes | No |
| <basefont> | sets font styles | Internet Explorer | 4 | CSS Styles: font-family, color, font-size | 2.0 | Yes | No[1] | 1.0 | Yes | Yes | ? | No |
| <blackface> | Used to display text in a double-weight bold font face | WebTV | ---- | Alternate fonts CSS Style: font-weight |
No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| <center> | centers elements | Netscape[2] | 4 | CSS Styles: text-align:center (text) margin-left auto; margin-right: auto; (block elements with set width) |
Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| <dir> | directory list | ---- | 4 | <ul> <ol> |
Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| <font> | applies font styles | Netscape | 4 | CSS Styles: font-family, color, font-size | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| <isindex> [3] | adds a search field | ---- | 4 | <form> <input type="text"> |
5.5 | ? | 1.7 | 1.3 | Yes | Partial | ? | ? |
| <listing> | Succeeded by <pre>...</pre> tag; displays preformatted text | W3C | 3.2 | <samp> <code> <pre> CSS Styles: font-family:monospace; white-space with the value pre, pre-wrap or pre-line |
1.0 | ? | 1.7 | 1.2 | 3.3 | Yes | ? | ? |
| <menu> | menu list | ---- | 4 | <ul> <ol> |
Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| <plaintext> | Designates that all HTML tags be ignored, and to display the page as is | ---- | 3.2 | Convert all < characters into HTML entity <. | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| <s> | strike through | ---- | 4 | <del> CSS Styles: text-decoration:line-through |
4.0 | Yes | 1.7 | Yes | Yes | 7.0 | Yes | 6.0 |
| <shadow> | Adds shadow to text | WebTV | ---- | CSS 3 Style: text-shadow | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <strike> | strike through | ---- | 4 | <del> CSS Style: text-decoration:line-through |
4.0 | Yes | 1.7 | Yes | Yes | 7.0 | Yes | 6.0 |
| <u> | underline | ---- | 4 | CSS Style: text-decoration:underline | 4.0 | Yes | 1.7 | Yes | Yes | 7.0 | Yes | ? |
| <xmp> | Similar to PRE, but ignores all HTML tags within and displays as is. | ---- | 3.2 | <samp> <code> Convert < characters inside tag into HTML entity <. |
1.0 | ? | 1.7 | 1.2 | 3.3 | 4.0 | ? | ? |
Deprecated HTML attributes
| Attribute | Deprecated if used in tag | Alternative solution | Trident | Tasman | Gecko | WebKit | KHTML | Presto | iCab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align | caption, div, fieldset, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, img, input, legend, p, object, table | CSS | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| alink | body | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| background | body | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| bgcolor | body, table, td, tr, th | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| border | img, object | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| clear | br | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| compact | dl, ol, ul | CSS | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| color | basefont, font | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| height | td, th | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| hspace | img, object | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| language | script | Attribute type | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| link | body | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| noshade | hr | CSS | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| nowrap | td, th | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| size | basefont, font, hr | CSS | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| start | ol | CSS | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| text | body | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| type | li, ul, ol | CSS | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| value | li | CSS | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| version | html | DTD declaration | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| vlink | body | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| width | hr, pre, td, th | CSS | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| vspace | img, object | CSS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
Proprietary HTML tags
| Tag | Function | Supported first by | Alternative solution | Trident | Tasman | Gecko | WebKit | KHTML | Presto | iCab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <animate> | loads a series of images which are then used as a replacement of the throbber animation. | IBM WebExplorer | N/A | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| <audioscope> | Used to display the audioscope, a graphical display of sound waves | WebTV | Flash, SVG, Canvas | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| <bgsound> | Used to add sound to the background of a website | Internet Explorer | Flash HTML5 |
2.0 | Yes | No† | 1.0 | 3.1 | 5.12 | ? |
| <blink> | Used to display a blinking text | Netscape | CSS Style: text-decoration | No | No | 1.7 | No | No | 7.2 | ? |
| <bq> | Used to display a blockquote | WebTV, HTML 3.0 | <blockquote> | No | ? | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <comment> | Used to allow the addition of comments to HTML documents | Internet Explorer, WebTV | <!-- ... --> | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <embed> | Used to allow the automatic display of a plug-in | Netscape | HTML5 <object> |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| <fn> | Footnotes | WebTV, HTML 3.0 | <a href="#anchor"> combined with <element id="anchor"> where anchor is a valid id | No | ? | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <ilayer> | Inline layers | Netscape (4 only) | <iframe> | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <image> | Synonym of <img> | ---- | <img> | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| <keygen> | Generates a public key certificate request and its associated private key | Netscape, Opera | ? | No | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| <layer> | Used to create multiple layers of text and images which lay on top of each other in a given order | Netscape (4 only) | CSS Styles: position, z-index <iframe>, AJAX |
No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <limittext> | Used to set the width of the text display | WebTV | CSS Style: width | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| <marquee> | Used to display a scrolling, marquee-like text. | Internet Explorer, WebTV | Javascript CSS 3 Style: marquee |
Yes | Yes | 1.7 | 1.2 | 3.3 | 7.2 | ? |
| <multicol> | Used to format and display multiple columns of text and images | Netscape | CSS 3 Style: columns | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <nobr> | Prevents any line breaks from occurring within the flow of a text | ---- | CSS Style: whitespace:nowrap |
Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| <noembed> | Displays an alternative text for browsers which do not recognize the <embed> tag | Netscape | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| <nolayer> | Displays an alternative text for browsers which do not recognize the <layer> and <ilayer>tag | Netscape | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| <nosmartquotes> | Prevents regular single '...' and double "..." quotes from automatically being replaced with smart single ‘...’ and smart double “...” quotes | WebTV | N/A | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <rt> | Denotes and annotates the pronunciation text used by the <ruby> text | Internet Explorer | ? | Yes | ? | No[2] | ? | ? | No | ? |
| <ruby> | Container for ruby character notation. Later a W3C recommendation | Internet Explorer | ? | Yes | ? | No[3] | ? | ? | No | ? |
| <server> | Inserts server-side JavaScript into an HTML document | Netscape Enterprise Server | See server-side JavaScript | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| <sidebar> | Creates a sidebar window that displays control elements | WebTV | N/A | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| <spacer> | Adds whitespace between words | Netscape | CSS Style: padding, margin | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| <wbr> | Placed inside a <nobr> element to add a line break | ---- | UTF-8-separator | 2.0 | Yes | 1.7 | Yes | 3.1 | No | ? |
| <xml> | Delimits an XML data island inside an HTML page | Internet Explorer | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Trident support notes
- <wbr> isn't supported for IE5.0 [4]
Gecko support notes
Proprietary HTML attributes
| attribute | Deprecated if used in tag | Function | Supported first by | Trident | Tasman | Gecko | WebKit | KHTML | Presto | iCab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| autoactivate | select | viewer selects the list, it is activated automatically | WebTV | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| bgproperties | body | Determines whether background image scrolls with the background | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| bordercolor | body | Sets colors for 3-D table borders in the table, td, th, and tr tags | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| bordercolordark | body | Sets colors for 3-D table borders in the table, td, th, and tr tags | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| bordercolorlight | body | Sets colors for 3-D table borders in the table, td, th, and tr tags | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| controls | img | Uses the image tag to place video or audio clips | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| dynsrc | img | Uses the image tag to place video or audio clips | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| frame | table | Controls the display of the outer borders of a table in the table tag | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| framespacing | frameset | Sets the amount of space between frames | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| ibmlogo | img | used to show some internal mini images | IBM WebExplorer | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| internal-gopher-menu | img | used to show some internal mini images | IBM WebExplorer | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| left_arrow | img | used to show some internal mini images | IBM WebExplorer | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| leftmargin | body | Sets the margin between the browser window and the contents of the page | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| loop | img | Uses the image tag to place video or audio clips | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| red_bullet | img | used to show some internal mini images | IBM WebExplorer | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| rightmargin | body | Sets the margin between the browser window and the contents of the page | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| start | img | Uses the image tag to place video or audio clips | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| target | form | Specifies a target window or frame for the output of a form | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | No[6] | ? | ? | No | ? |
| usestyle | caption | ??? | WebTV | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| valign | input | Sets vertical alignment of table caption | Internet Explorer | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
References
- DevGuru HTML - Non-standard tags
- Web Design in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition - Microsoft Internet Explorer Proprietary Tags
- Web Design in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition - Netscape Navigator Proprietary Tags
- OS/2 Web Explorer's proprietary html tags
- ^ HTML 4 Changes, W3C, 1997-12-18, http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/appendix/changes.html#h-A.3.1. Retrieved on 7 May 2008
- ^ HTML 3.2 Reference Spezification, W3C, 1997-01-14, http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html32.html#center. Retrieved on 8 October 2008
- ^ Isindex Example, http://obscuretags.com/isindex.html. Retrieved on 7 May 2008
See also
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