HTML5

What are the HTML Tags Deprecated in HTML5?

HTML5 removed many old presentational tags whose only job was styling — because styling belongs in CSS, not HTML. These tags are considered obsolete and should not be used. Here is a reference table of the most common deprecated elements and what to use instead.

Why Were Tags Deprecated?

HTML5 enforces a clean separation of concerns: HTML describes structure and meaning, while CSS handles presentation. Tags that only controlled appearance (fonts, colours, alignment, blinking text) were dropped in favour of CSS. Some layout tags like <frame> and <frameset> were removed for accessibility and usability reasons.

Deprecated Tags and Their Replacements

Deprecated Tag	What It Did	Modern Replacement
<font>	Set font face, size, colour	CSS font-family, font-size, color
<center>	Centred content	CSS text-align: center or margin: auto
<big>	Larger text	CSS font-size
<strike> / <s>	Strikethrough text	CSS text-decoration or <del>
<tt>	Teletype/monospace text	CSS font-family: monospace or <code>
<u> (old use)	Underline for style	CSS text-decoration: underline
<basefont>	Default document font	CSS on <body>
<frame> / <frameset>	Split page into frames	<iframe> or CSS layout
<noframes>	Fallback for frames	Not needed
<acronym>	Marked acronyms	<abbr>
<applet>	Embedded Java applet	<object> or <embed>
<marquee>	Scrolling text	CSS animations
<blink>	Blinking text	CSS animations (use sparingly)
<dir>	Directory list	<ul>

⚠️

Deprecated tags may still render in some browsers for backward compatibility, but you must not use them in new code. They can break in future browsers and hurt accessibility and SEO.

Correct Modern Approach

Old presentational HTML vs modern CSS

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Modern Styling</title>
  <style>
    .title { text-align: center; color: #1a73e8; font-size: 28px; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <!-- Old, deprecated way (do NOT use):
       <center><font color="blue" size="6">Hello</font></center> -->

  <!-- Modern, correct way: -->
  <h1 class="title">Hello</h1>
</body>
</html>

Key Takeaways

Presentational tags like <font>, <center>, and <big> are obsolete.
Use CSS for all styling instead of deprecated tags.
<frameset> and <frame> were removed — use <iframe> if needed.
Some tags map to semantic replacements: <acronym> to <abbr>.