Warning Deprecated HTML elements
Why <center>, <font>, and <marquee> are obsolete, and what CSS replaces each one.
The validator flags <center>, <font>, and <marquee> — presentational elements from early HTML that HTML5 formally obsoletes in favor of CSS.
Replacements
| Deprecated | Use instead |
|---|---|
<center> | text-align: center or flexbox/grid centering |
<font color size face> | color, font-size, font-family in CSS |
<marquee> | CSS animation with transform: translateX(...) |
Why it matters
These elements mix presentation into the document's structural markup, which is exactly what CSS was created to separate out. They still render in every modern browser for backward compatibility with old pages, but they're formally listed as obsolete in the HTML spec, aren't going to gain any new capabilities, and signal outdated markup practices to anyone reading the source. They also can't be styled per breakpoint the way CSS properties can, so they don't play well with responsive design.
Frequently asked questions
Will browsers stop supporting these elements?
Not in the foreseeable future — browsers maintain backward compatibility with the huge amount of old content already using them. "Obsolete" in the HTML spec means don't use it in new documents, not that support will be removed.
Is <marquee> actually still rendered?
Yes, in most browsers, though its behavior was never formally standardized and can vary. It's listed as obsolete precisely because it was always a proprietary, non-standard element that predates any real specification.