Use style sheets |
WAI / WCAG 1.0 Priority 2 checkpoint 3.3
Issue Description The page contains tags or attributes that are deprecated (i.e. that have disappeared from HTML 4.01, and whose usage is discouraged by the W3C). These tags/attributes can be safely replaced with appropriate CSS rules. See the list of HTML 4.01 deprecated tags [http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/index/elements.html] .
How to fix Replace the deprecated tags and attributes by appropriate CSS properties and rules. For example, use the CSS 'font' properties (e.g. font-size, font-family, font-weight) instead of the HTML FONT element to control font styles; use style="{float: left}" instead of align="left"; use style="border:none" instead of border="0" (within IMG tags).

See the list of HTML 4.01 deprecated tags [http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/index/elements.html] .

Issue Explanation By using CSS presentation rules rather than (deprecated) HTML tags and attributes the following advantages are achieved:

- the code you develop is more up to the standards, and will be automatically compatible when all the browsers and agents will catch up with the standards;
- the developed pages will be much easier to maintain (since presentation related code should be isolated in the CSS style sheet that is shared by all, or most, of the pages);
- the developed pages will be less cluttered since there is no need to repeatedly use tags like FONT to specify font faces and colors. This will improve the download time (since the page size is reduced and the browser can only download the CSS file once from the site);
- It is possible to reuse the same HTML page, and apply more than one CSS file to it to allow the user of the browser to choose which rendering style to use (among those that are defined).