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 14.14393[2] N/A Microsoft Edge, Universal Windows Platform (UWP) JavaScript apps
Gecko
Standard 55.0.1 / 10 August 2017 (2017-08-10)[3]
ESR 52.3.0 / 8 August 2017 (2017-08-08)[4]
Beta & Developer Edition 56.0beta / August 8, 2017 (2017-08-08)[5][6] semiweekly release
Nightly 57.0a1 / August 2, 2017 (2017-08-02)[7][8] 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 Android ("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 27.4.1 (August 3, 2017 (2017-08-03)[9]) [±] Pale Moon and FossaMail
KHTML 4.12.3[10] N/A Konqueror[note 2]
Martha ? ? PDFreactor, Nimbudocs Editor and edit-on NG. Uses the Apache Batik library for SVG rendering.
Presto 2.12.388 N/A No longer developed; Opera and Opera Mobile use Blink now; Nintendo DS & DSi Browser; Internet Channel
Prince 11 N/A 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[11], http://www.online-convert.com/[12].
  1. ↑ "chromium / chromium/blink". chromium.googlesource.com. Google. Retrieved 2014-05-27.
  2. 1 2 In Konqueror, the user can switch the used layout engine.
  3. ↑ "WebKit Nightly Builds". webkit.org. Retrieved 2014-05-27.

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[13] 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[14] 85 Yes
center Centers contents Netscape[15] 4 CSS 3.1 Yes Yes
dir Directory list ? 4 ul, ol
font Applies font styles Netscape 4 CSS
isindex[16] 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][14] 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[17]
blink Used to display a blinking text Netscape Javascript, CSS No Dropped[18] Yes No 1.0
bq Used to display a blockquote WebTV, HTML 3.0 blockquote No No No No Dropped[19]
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[20][21] 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[22] No No No
wbr Placed inside a nobr element to add a line break Netscape[20][21] Unicode character zero-width space (U+200B) Dropped[note 3] 1.7 Yes 3.1 No
xml[24] Includes XML data, either inline or from an URL, in an HTML page Internet Explorer AJAX, possibly XML namespaces 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[25] ? Yes No
valign caption Sets vertical alignment of table caption Internet Explorer 3.1 ? ? No No

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Supported for only img.
  2. 1 2 Supported for only font.
  3. ↑ Trident dropped support for wbr in version 5.0.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Amaya Binary Releases, Most recent download link in stable
  2. ↑ Introducing EdgeHTML 14 with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update
  3. ↑ "Firefox — Notes (55.0.1) — Mozilla". mozilla.org. Mozilla Foundation. 10 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "Firefox Extended Support Release — Notes (52.3.0) — Mozilla". mozilla.org. Mozilla Foundation. 8 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Firefox — Beta Notes (56.0beta) — Mozilla". 2017-08-08. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  6. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Download Firefox Beta in your language — Mozilla". Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  7. ↑ "Firefox - Notes (57.0a1) — Mozilla". 2017-08-02. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  8. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Download Firefox Nightly in your language — Mozilla". Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  9. ↑ "Pale Moon Release Notes". Pale Moon. 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  10. ↑ Download for kdelibs, Most recent download link in stable
  11. ↑ Pdfcrowd FAQ, “Pdfcrowd is built around Webkit.”
  12. ↑ ‘Producer’ metadata in the resulting pdf., https://www.coolutils.com/Online/HTML-Converter/ Free Online HTML Converter around Webkit
  13. ↑ HTML 4 Changes, W3C, 18 December 1997, retrieved 2008-05-07
  14. 1 2 Bug 3875 - (basefont) deprecated basefont element not supported, Mozilla
  15. ↑ HTML 3.2 Reference Specification, W3C, 14 January 1997, retrieved 2008-10-08
  16. ↑ Isindex Example, retrieved 2008-05-07
  17. ↑ Tommy A. Olsen (28 November 2011). "Opera Desktop Team - Glyphs and plugins". Retrieved 28 November 2011. CORE-34613 Drop support for <bgsound>
  18. ↑ "Mozilla Aurora Notes". Mozilla. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  19. ↑ 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
  20. 1 2 "Complete List of HTML Tags". Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  21. 1 2 "Extensions to HTML". Netscape. 1994. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  22. ↑ Bug 531056 - [HTML5] Remove spacer support, Mozilla
  23. ↑ Zeilenumbruch erlauben (in German), Impressum
  24. ↑ XML Element | xml Object, Microsoft
  25. ↑ Bug 207900 - psychotekk.de - the target attribute in the form element is ignored, Mozilla
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