HTML font style tags were used to control the appearance of text directly within HTML documents. The primary tag was the font tag, which had three main attributes: face for font family, size for text size, and color for text color. However, these tags are now deprecated in HTML5, and modern web development uses CSS for styling instead.
The face attribute specifies the font family for the text. You can specify a single font like Arial or Times New Roman, or provide multiple fonts as fallbacks. When you list multiple fonts separated by commas, the browser will use the first available font. This fallback system ensures your text displays properly even if the preferred font isn't installed on the user's system.
The size attribute controls the font size of text. It accepts values from 1 to 7, where 1 is the smallest and 7 is the largest. The default size is 3. You can also use relative values with plus or minus signs to increase or decrease the size relative to the current font size. For example, plus 2 makes the text larger, while minus 1 makes it smaller.
The color attribute sets the text color. You can specify colors using standard color names like red, blue, green, or use hexadecimal color codes for more precise control. Hexadecimal codes start with a hash symbol followed by six characters representing red, green, and blue values. This gives you access to millions of different colors for your text styling.
HTML font tags are now deprecated and should not be used in modern web development. Instead, CSS provides a much better approach for styling text. CSS offers better maintainability by separating content from presentation, more styling options, support for responsive design, and follows current web standards. This separation makes websites easier to maintain and more flexible for different devices and screen sizes.