Comparison of layout engines (non-standard HTML)
The following tables compare deprecated and proprietary HTML elements and attributes compatibility and support for a number of layout engines. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.
In the early years of the World Wide Web, the standards which today are used in most web browsers and web pages were mostly non-existent. Different browsers and HTML editors were being offered by competing vendors such as Netscape, Microsoft and WebTV, all of whom had their own ideas for how web sites should be constructed. These varying features resulted in web developers coding for specific web browsers, using elements which could often be recognized by only one browser.
The WebTV and IBM WebExplorer inventions have never seen adoption by mainstream browsers.
Explanation of the tables
Engine nomenclature
Rather than the names of web browsers and HTML to PDF converters, the names of the underlying engines are used. Some of the software and online converters that use the various engines are listed below.
Layout engine |
Release version |
Preview version |
Used by |
Amaya |
11.4.7[1] |
N/A |
No longer developed; Amaya |
Blink |
537.36 |
source code[note 1] |
Chromium/Chrome (28+), Opera (15+), Sleipnir, Vivaldi, Yandex, Liebao and Samsung Browser . |
EdgeHTML |
13.10586 [2] |
N/A |
Microsoft Edge, Universal Windows Platform (UWP) JavaScript apps |
Gecko |
Standard |
50.0.2 / November 30, 2016 (2016-11-30)[3] |
---|
ESR |
45.5.1 / November 30, 2016 (2016-11-30)[4] |
---|
|
Beta |
51.0beta / November 16, 2016 (2016-11-16)[5][6] semiweekly release |
---|
Developer Edition |
52.0a2 / November 18, 2016 (2016-11-18)[7][8] daily release |
---|
Nightly |
53.0a1 / November 14, 2016 (2016-11-14)[9][10] daily release |
---|
|
All Mozilla software, including Firefox; SeaMonkey and Galeon; Camino; K-Meleon; Flock (up to 2.x); Debian IceWeasel; GNU IceCat (formerly GNU IceWeasel); Cyberfox; Icedove, Iceape and Iceowl; Firefox for mobile ("Fennec"). Also used by the Maple platform in 2010 and 2011 Samsung "SmartTV" devices which are based on the build used in Firefox 2.5. The Nokia Asha platform also uses Gecko for web apps rendering. |
Goanna |
27.0.2 (December 2, 2016 (2016-12-02)[11]) [±] |
27 public beta 3 (October 27, 2016 (2016-10-27)[12]) [±] |
Pale Moon and FossaMail |
KHTML |
4.12.3[13] |
N/A |
Konqueror[note 2] |
Martha |
? |
? |
PDFreactor, Nimbudocs Editor and edit-on NG |
Presto |
2.12.388 |
N/A |
No longer developed; Opera and Opera Mobile use Blink now; Nintendo DS & DSi Browser; Internet Channel |
Prince |
10 |
20160810 |
HTML to PDF converters: Prince (previously called PrinceXML), DocRaptor. The information in the Prince columns is also true of Prince for Books, a related layout engine. |
Tasman |
(IE 5.2.3 for Mac) |
N/A |
No longer developed (aborted in 2003); Internet Explorer 5+ for Mac OS X |
Trident |
7.0 (IE 11) |
N/A |
Internet Explorer and other Internet Explorer shells like Maxthon (Microsoft Windows operating systems only), Windows Phone 8 |
WebKit |
534.20 |
nightly build[note 3] |
Tizen (both OS and browser), Safari (both desktop and mobile), Google Chrome (before 28), Maxthon 3, Shiira, iCab 4, OmniWeb 5.5+, Web, Adobe AIR, Midori, surf, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 and CS5, Android browser, Palm webOS browser, Symbian S60 browser, OWB, Steam, Rekonq, Arora, Flock (version 3+), RockMelt, Dolphin Browser, Konqueror[note 2]. Used by the LG Smart TV platform to enable web content on TVs. HTML to PDF converters: wkhtmltopdf, PhantomJS, Pdfcrowd[14], http://www.online-convert.com/[15]. |
Values
Values indicate the level of support in the most recent version of the layout engine, or (if a version number is given) in the specified version. Version numbers without any other value indicate the version at which the layout engine first fully supported the feature.
Value |
Meaning |
Yes |
Indicates that the layout engine fully supports this property/element when valid values are used. |
No |
Indicates that the property/element is completely ignored. |
Partial |
Indicates that the property/element is understood, but that not all values are supported. Supported values are implemented correctly. |
Incorrect |
Indicates that the property/element is understood, but that it is not implemented correctly in all cases. |
Experimental |
Indicates that the property/element is understood, but supported under an alternate name. May be incomplete or buggy. |
Dropped |
Indicates that the property/element is no longer supported. |
Nightly build |
Indicates that the property/element is supported to some extent in an experimental/nightly build. Future support is expected. |
Depends |
Indicates that the property/element is supported only on certain platforms, or if certain settings are configured. |
Deprecated HTML elements
Element |
Function |
Supported first by |
Deprecated in HTML version |
Alternative solution |
Trident |
Gecko |
WebKit |
KHTML |
Presto |
applet | Insert an applet | HotJava | 4[16] | embed , object |
<3.1[IE 4.0]
|
1.7 |
Yes |
Yes |
1.0 |
basefont | Sets font styles | Internet Explorer | 4 | CSS |
<3.1[IE 3.0]
|
No[17] |
85 |
Yes |
center | Centers contents | Netscape[18] | 4 | CSS |
3.1 |
Yes |
Yes |
dir | Directory list | ? | 4 | ul , ol |
font | Applies font styles | Netscape | 4 | CSS |
isindex [19] | Adds a search field | ? | 4 | input type="search" |
<3.1[IE 5.5]
|
1.7 |
312 |
Partial |
listing | Displays preformatted text | IETF | 2 | pre , samp , code , CSS |
3.1 |
125 |
3.3 |
Yes |
menu | Menu list | ? | 4 | ul , ol |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
plaintext | Designates that all HTML be ignored, and to display the page as is | ? | 3.2 | The text/plain MIME type |
s | Strike-through | ? | 4 | del , CSS |
<3.1[IE 4.0]
|
1.7 |
1.0 |
strike | Strike-through | ? | 4 | del , CSS |
u | Underline | ? | 4 | CSS |
xmp | Similar to pre and plaintext , but ignores all HTML within and displays as is | ? | 2 | pre , samp , code |
<3.1[IE 3.0]
|
125 |
3.3 |
Deprecated HTML attributes
Attribute |
Element |
Alternative solution |
Trident |
Gecko |
WebKit |
KHTML |
Presto |
align | caption , div , fieldset , h1 , h2 , h3 , h4 , h5 , h6 , hr , img , input , legend , p , object , table | CSS |
3.1 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
alink | body | CSS |
No |
background | body | CSS |
Yes |
bgcolor | body , table , tr , td , th | CSS |
border | img , object | CSS |
Partial[note 1] |
clear | br | CSS |
No |
compact | dl , ul , ol | CSS |
No |
No |
color | basefont , font | CSS |
3.1 |
Partial[note 2][17] |
Partial[note 2] |
height | td , th | CSS |
Yes |
Yes |
hspace | img , object | CSS |
language | script | The type attribute |
No |
link | body | CSS |
Yes |
noshade | hr | CSS |
nowrap | td , th | CSS |
size | basefont , font , hr | CSS |
start | ol | None |
text | body | CSS |
type | li , ul , ol | CSS |
version | html | DTD |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
vlink | body | CSS |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
width | hr , pre , td , th | CSS |
vspace | img , object | CSS |
Proprietary HTML elements
Tag |
Function |
Introduced by |
Alternative solution |
Trident |
Gecko |
WebKit |
KHTML |
Presto |
bgsound | Used to add sound to the background of a website | Internet Explorer | audio |
<3.1[IE 3.0]
|
No |
No |
No |
Dropped[20] |
blink | Used to display a blinking text | Netscape | Javascript, CSS |
No |
Dropped[21] |
Yes |
No |
1.0 |
bq | Used to display a blockquote | WebTV, HTML 3.0 | blockquote |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Dropped[22] |
comment | Used to allow the addition of comments to HTML documents | Internet Explorer, WebTV | <!-- ... --> |
3.1 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
ilayer | Inline layers | Netscape (4 only) | iframe |
No |
No |
No |
Partial |
No |
image | Synonym of img | ? | img |
3.1 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
layer | Used to create multiple layers of text and images which lay on top of each other in a given order | Netscape (4 only) | CSS, AJAX |
No |
No |
No |
Partial |
No |
marquee | Used to display a scrolling, marquee-like text. | Internet Explorer, WebTV | JavaScript, CSS3 |
3.1 |
1.7 |
125 |
3.3 |
1.0 |
nobr | Prevents any line breaks from occurring within the flow of a text | Netscape[23][24] | CSS |
3.1 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
noembed | Displays an alternative text for browsers which do not recognize the embed tag | Netscape | Child elements of object used as fallback |
spacer | Adds whitespace in a layout | Netscape | CSS |
No |
Dropped[25] |
No |
No |
No |
wbr | Placed inside a nobr element to add a line break | Netscape[23][24] | Unicode character zero-width space (U+200B) |
Dropped[note 3] |
1.7 |
Yes |
3.1 |
No |
xml [27] | Delimits an XML data island inside an HTML page | Internet Explorer | ? |
3.1 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Proprietary HTML attributes
Attribute |
Deprecated for |
Function |
Supported first by |
Trident |
Gecko |
WebKit |
KHTML |
Presto |
bgproperties | body | Determines whether background image scrolls with the background | Internet Explorer |
3.1 |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
bordercolor | body | Sets colors for 3-D table borders in the table , td , th , and tr elements | Internet Explorer |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
bordercolordark | body | Sets colors for 3-D table borders in the table , td , th , and tr elements | Internet Explorer |
No |
No |
No |
No |
bordercolorlight | body | Sets colors for 3-D table borders in the table , td , th , and tr elements | Internet Explorer |
controls | img | Uses the img element to place video or audio clips | Internet Explorer |
No |
No |
No |
No |
dynsrc | img | Uses the img element to place video or audio clips | Internet Explorer |
No |
No |
No |
No |
event | script | Defines function to call for an object. | Internet Explorer |
Partial |
? |
? |
? |
for | script | Defines the object to bind a scripting event. | Internet Explorer |
Partial |
? |
? |
? |
frame | table | Controls the display of the outer borders of a table in the table tag | Internet Explorer |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
No |
framespacing | frameset | Sets the amount of space between frames | Internet Explorer |
? |
? |
No |
No |
leftmargin | body | Sets the margin between the browser window and the contents of the page | Internet Explorer |
3.1 |
? |
? |
Yes |
No |
loop | img | Uses the img element to place video or audio clips | Internet Explorer |
No |
No |
No |
No |
rightmargin | body | Sets the margin between the browser window and the contents of the page | Internet Explorer |
3.1 |
? |
? |
No |
No |
start | img | Uses the img element to place video or audio clips | Internet Explorer |
No |
No |
No |
No |
target | form | Specifies a target window or frame for the output of a form | Internet Explorer |
No[28] |
? |
Yes |
No |
valign | caption | Sets vertical alignment of table caption | Internet Explorer |
3.1 |
? |
? |
No |
No |
See also
Notes
- ↑ Supported for only
img
. - 1 2 Supported for only
font
. - ↑ Trident dropped support for
wbr
in version 5.0.[26]
References
- ↑ Amaya Binary Releases, Most recent download link in stable
- ↑ Change log between EdgeHTML 12.10240 and 13.10586
- ↑ "Firefox — Notes (50.0.2) — Mozilla". mozilla.org. 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- ↑ "Firefox Extended Support Release — Notes (45.5.1) — Mozilla". mozilla.org. 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- ↑ "Firefox — Beta Notes (50.0beta) — Mozilla". 2016-10-16. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
- ↑ "Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Download Firefox Beta in your language — Mozilla". Retrieved 2016-07-02.
- ↑ "Firefox — Aurora Notes (52.0a2) — Mozilla". 2016-11-18. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
- ↑ "Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Download Developer Edition in your language — Mozilla". Retrieved 2016-11-18.
- ↑ "RapidRelease/Calendar - MozillaWiki". Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ↑ "Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Download Firefox Nightly in your language — Mozilla". Retrieved 2016-10-23.
- ↑ "Pale Moon Release Notes". Pale Moon. 2016-12-02. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
- ↑ "Pale Moon public beta/unstable branch release notes". Moonchild Productions. 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
- ↑ Download for kdelibs, Most recent download link in stable
- ↑ Pdfcrowd FAQ, “Pdfcrowd is built around Webkit.”
- ↑ ‘Producer’ metadata in the resulting pdf., https://www.coolutils.com/Online/HTML-Converter/ Free Online HTML Converter around Webkit
- ↑ HTML 4 Changes, W3C, 18 December 1997, retrieved 2008-05-07
- 1 2 Bug 3875 - (basefont) deprecated basefont element not supported, Mozilla
- ↑ HTML 3.2 Reference Specification, W3C, 14 January 1997, retrieved 2008-10-08
- ↑ Isindex Example, retrieved 2008-05-07
- ↑ Tommy A. Olsen (28 November 2011). "Opera Desktop Team - Glyphs and plugins". Retrieved 28 November 2011.
CORE-34613 Drop support for <bgsound>
- ↑ "Mozilla Aurora Notes". Mozilla. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ↑ gsnedders (9 September 2010). "IRC logs: freenode / #whatwg / 2010-09-09". Retrieved 9 September 2010.
# [17:27] <gsnedders> I know we dropped support for the bq element :P
- 1 2 "Complete List of HTML Tags". Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- 1 2 "Extensions to HTML". Netscape. 1994. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ↑ Bug 531056 - [HTML5] Remove spacer support, Mozilla
- ↑ Zeilenumbruch erlauben (in German), Impressum
- ↑ XML Element | xml Object, Microsoft
- ↑ Bug 207900 - psychotekk.de - the target attribute in the form element is ignored, Mozilla