Basefont

Basefont Support Key: [2\|3\|*3.2\|4] [X1\|X1.1] [IE1\|M\|N1-N4.x\|O2.1*]	What is it? Attributes Tag Example	Parent/Content Model Tips & Tricks Browser Peculiarities
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Quick Statistics
End Tag:		Required
Standards Details:		Deprecated in HTML 4.x and XHTML 1.0. Dropped in XHTML 1.1.
XHTML Modules:		Legacy
CSS 'display' Type:		"inline"
CSS Mapping:		font-size, font-family, color
Default Rendering:		Depends on the attribute values set
Official Docs:		HTML 4.x, XHTML 1.0

What is it?: This element changes the default font attributes that all contained text is based on. While none of the attributes for this element are required, this element will not have any effect unless at least one of the attributes is present.

Common Attributes
%Core%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3|M|N4B5-N4.x|O7]
%Accessibility%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N|O]
%Events%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N|O]
%Language%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N|O]
Specific Attributes
Color
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE1|M|N|O]: Standards Details: Deprecated in HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0; Dropped in XHTML 1.1;; Required? No; Description:
This attribute specifies the default color of the enclosed text.; Values: CDATA. [The standard HTML color specification methods apply.]
Face
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE1|M|N|O]: Standards Details: Deprecated in HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0; Dropped in XHTML 1.1;; Required? No; Description:
This attribute indicates a specific default font typeface to be used instead of the normal default typeface of the browser. If the system that is viewing the document does not have the font typeface specified by this attribute then the browser default is used instead. To ease portability, multiple typefaces can be specified in the attribute value separated by commas. It will check for availability starting from the style name on the left, working its way right.; Values: CDATA. [Comma separated list of font names. Font names with spaces are encapsulated with single quote characters.]
Size
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE1|M|N1-N4.x|O2.1]: Standards Details: Deprecated in HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0; Dropped in XHTML 1.1;; Required? No; Description:
This attribute changes the default size of text contained in FONT elements. Values can be specified relative to the default BASEFONT value of 3 or as absolute values in the size range.; Values: CDATA. [Integers ranging from 1 (smallest) to 7 (largest) or relative size changes (an integer preceded by a '+' or '-' character) based on a current base default size.]

Example: Text Before
<basefont size="5" color="#00ff00" face="Arial">this is sample text</basefont>
Text After

Parent Model: %Block Parent%
Content Model: %In-line Content% | %Block Content%
Exceptions: <table>

Tips & Tricks

Only the SIZE attribute of BASEFONT is currently widely supported. Other attributes are only supported by Internet Explorer, but HTML 4.0 includes them. For now use of these other attributes is discouraged, but increased support may occur in time.
DTD NOTE: Information on this element here should not be considered gospel by any means. HTML 3.2 and 4.0, as well as the Internet Explorer 3.0 DTD treat BASEFONT in a way that I consider INCORRECT. The mentioned DTDs treat BASEFONT as a stand-alone element, which totally eliminates a content model. The original Netscape description is nebulous on this point, but observed behavior of the element in IE and Netscape totally contradicts what the DTDs say - it is very obviously a container. I constructed a Parent/Content relationship based on this idea.

Browser Peculiarities

[Test] Netscape 1.0-4.x and Internet Explorer versions ignore this element when applied around table structures. For it to apply within a table structure as well, one must apply FONT or BASEFONT elements in each table cell. This is painful. The only way to eliminate so much extra effort is to use style sheets.
[Test] The effect of BASEFONT SIZE in Internet Explorer 1.0-2.0, Netscape 1.0 and Opera is to serve as a starting point in calculating relative FONT SIZE change values. Later versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape 1.1-4.x allow the setting of a default font size for contained text.
[Tests: 1, 2] Neither Internet Explorer or Netscape 1.0-4.x apply the BASEFONT SIZE attribute value to heading levels. Internet Explorer does apply the FACE and COLOR values to headings though.
Beginning with Netscape 6.x, the BASEFONT element is no longer supported. They suggest using CSS to achieve the effects of BASEFONT as an alternative. To read more about this decision see Mozilla's Bugzilla 3875.