What tag should I use instead of deprecated tag font in html (cannot use CSS)

Asked 11/12, 2008 at 8:2 Answered 11/12, 2008 at 8:2

this question can create a misunderstanding: I know I have to use CSS to validate successfully my document as XHTML 1.0 Transitional. The fact is that I have to embed in my webpage a picture composed by zeros and ones created with text image, and the problem is that the code uses deprecated tag font and looks like this

<!-- IMAGE BEGINS HERE -->
<pre>
    <font size="-3">
        <font color="#000000">0001100000101101100011</font>
        <font color="#010000">00</font>
        <font color="#020101">0</font>
        <font color="#040101">0</font>
        <font color="#461919">1</font>
        <font color="#b54f4f">1</font>
        ...etc.etc...
    </font>
</pre>
<!-- IMAGE ENDS HERE -->

(In this code example I inserted a newline after each couple of tags to make it more readable, but the original code is all in one line because of the <pre> tag). The font's color changes at least thousands times so I never considered to create a field in the CSS for each combination.Hope someone knows at least where to find a solution, I searched everywhere :) Thanks

Ochre answered 11/12, 2008 at 8:2 Comment(3)

When you say the colour changes at least 1000 times do you mean there are 1000+ different colours? – Norrie 11/12, 2008 at 8:28

yes, I don't know the right number but there are 300*15 entries (zeros or ones) and each could have a different colour – Ochre 11/12, 2008 at 9:47

“: I know I have to use CSS to validate successfully my document as XHTML 1.0 Transitional” — that’s not in the least bit true. – Eighteenth 1/10, 2010 at 17:37

You could replace

0001100000101101100011

with

0001100000101101100011

etc...

*Edit: I know this is CSS, but it doesn't involve a separate stylesheet like the question states, which may be ok.

Taphouse answered 11/12, 2008 at 8:2 Comment(1)

Oops, I just posted exactly the same suggestion. I'll delete mine, but I agree with Ryan: this solution doesn't employ a stylesheet. Note, though, that it does bulk up the page by a certain amount. – Klenk 11/12, 2008 at 9:16

Thanks a lot! :D I used this code

<!-- IMAGE BEGINS HERE -->
<div style="font-size:x-small;font-family:monospace">
    <span style="color:#000000">0001100000101101100011</span>
    <span style="color:#010000">00</span>
    ...etc.etc...
</div>
<!-- IMAGE ENDS HERE -->

It works correctly! :D

Ochre answered 11/12, 2008 at 8:2 Comment(0)

What about javascript ?

Send the color data as a JSON array, the '0' and '1' as another array and dynamically generate the DOM elements.

<script>
values = [1, 0, 0, 1, ... ]
colors = ["010000", "020101", ...]

for (i = 0; i < values.length; i++) {
    span = createElement("span"); // use a portable function for creating elements
    span.setAttribute("style", "color:#"+colors[i]);
    txtNode = document.createTextNode(values[i]); 
    span.appendChild(txtNode);
    document.appendChild(span);
}
</script>

Or something like this...

Ponder answered 11/12, 2008 at 8:2 Comment(0)

Why does it need to validate?

The solution you've already got is absolutely fine for what you're doing. It works. This is not a meaningful document that should be marked up with semantic tags for improved accessibility; it's a work of art, so feel free to ignore the rules if it helps you express your intentions more clearly.

If validation is part of the artistic statement you're trying to make, then use 00 as suggested by other posters - but that'll increase your file size considerably.

Another approach is just to change the doctype so you're not targetting XHTML Transitional - use <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> or some earlier HTML revision instead.

Abbasid answered 11/12, 2008 at 8:2 Comment(2)

Thanks for posting. I agree with you about not following the rules in some cases, but I'm trying to make it the more close I can to the standard XHtml, and the file size is not so important for that page; moreover in this case I got the same result :) – Ochre 11/12, 2008 at 9:38

Have to say I disagree. It's fairly universally accepted that HTML is difficult to support universally as a result of a lack of standard implementations. XHTML is intended to alleviate this, and we should all be striving to meet the new standard and wipe out the pain of original HTML. – Gigue 11/12, 2008 at 10:4

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