A "deprecated" feature is one which the W3C wants to remove from the official standard for a given technology but which has not yet become officially obsolete or removed. Even though they are part of the official standard, the W3C discourages the use of deprecated features. For example, the "font" tag and color attributes in HTML are an example of a deprecated feature in HTML 4.0. Using deprecated elements instead of newer elements will make the site incompatible with the latest version of HTML and may, despite your best intentions, decrease its accessibility.

The depreciated elements should not be used due to the following reasons:

• They may not be supported by current and future browser technologies
• May make the pages less accessible

Guidelines:

• Should not use the deprecated elements and attributes
• Consult the W3C list of HTML elements and attributes. The index of HTML elements and attributes lists all elements in HTML 4.0. Deprecated elements are indicated with *

Validation techniques:

• Test with W3C HTML Validator
• Otherwise, each page should be initially tested manually for < font > and < Center >. If the page does not have any of these tags the other tags are checked. The presence of any deprecated features will result in the page failing the check