BASEFONT - Base Font Change

The BASEFONT element, deprecated in HTML 4.0 in favor of style sheets, allows authors to suggest rudimentary font changes. Use of the BASEFONT element brings the same usability and accessibility problems as FONT, as discussed in the article What's Wrong With FONT?

Unlike FONT, BASEFONT's changes affect the base font, and so apply to all content following the BASEFONT element except for headings. However, most browsers fail to apply changes in the base font size and color to TABLEs.

BASEFONT's required SIZE attribute specifies the font size to use on a browser-dependent scale of 1 to 7, with the default being 3.

The poorly supported COLOR and FACE attributes suggest a font color and face, respectively. Style sheets are better supported and more flexible than BASEFONT's COLOR and FACE attributes.

More Information

• BASEFONT in W3C HTML 4.0 Recommendation
• BASEFONT in W3C HTML 3.2 Recommendation
• BASEFONT in WDG HTML 3.2 Reference
• BASEFONT in Learning HTML 3.2 by Examples

This document was modified from the Web Design Group's original work. The Web Design Group takes no responsibility for any errors introduced.