probeo

Why should blink and marquee elements be removed?

blink page

The issue

Text that blinks or scrolls on its own can’t be read by many people and can’t be stopped by anyone. It pulls attention away from the rest of the page, which is a real barrier for people with attention or reading difficulties, and scrolling text has to be caught as it passes.

The cause is the <blink> or <marquee> element. Both are obsolete HTML, and neither offers a way to pause the movement, which WCAG 2.2.2, Pause, Stop, Hide, requires for moving content.

Scope

Every <blink> and <marquee> element on the page is reported, hidden or not. They are two rules, blink and marquee, with the same fix.

How to check you have it

  • In probeo: the page reports the blink rule, “<blink> elements are deprecated and must not be used”, or the marquee rule, “<marquee> elements are deprecated and must not be used”. Both have serious impact.
  • By hand: search the page source for <blink and <marquee.
  • With a tool: axe DevTools reports the same rule ids.

The fix

Replace the element with static text, styled to stand out if it needs to.

Emphasis can come from weight, color or position rather than movement. If something genuinely has to move, such as a news ticker, build it with CSS or script that offers a visible pause control, and respect the user’s reduced-motion setting.

<!-- Before -->
<marquee>Free shipping this week</marquee>

<!-- After -->
<p class="notice"><strong>Free shipping this week</strong></p>

Done when: the page has no <blink> or <marquee> elements, and the check above comes back clean.

Do not

  • Do not recreate the same endless movement with CSS animation and no way to pause it.
  • Do not rely on browsers ignoring <blink>; remove it from the markup.

FAQ

Most browsers no longer animate <blink>, but <marquee> still scrolls in current browsers. Both are obsolete, and probeo reports both.

Can a CSS animation fail the same criterion?

Yes. WCAG 2.2.2 applies to any moving, blinking or scrolling content that starts automatically, lasts more than five seconds and sits beside other content, unless it can be paused. Probeo’s rule only detects the two elements.

Where do these elements usually come from?

Old templates, pasted content from legacy pages, and some content management system widgets.

Which product detects this

Probeo checks this on every page of your site as part of Site Clarity. This page explains one instance; the product tells you every page that has it.