Member Avatar for topsege2007

What HTML tag can i make use of inorder to make a text blink.
Thanks

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Short answer: don’t rely on a special HTML tag to make text blink. The historic <blink> element and text-decoration: blink are non‑standard and effectively deprecated — modern browsers often ignore them, so they’re unreliable and not a valid solution. (mdn2.netlify.app)

More important: accessibility and safety. Blinking or flashing content is distracting and can cause harm for some users; WCAG explicitly forbids content that flashes more than three times per second, and photosensitive seizures are a documented risk for a subset of people with epilepsy. Respect the warnings raised by and — even if the risk is small, design choices should avoid creating it. (w3.org)

If emphasis is needed, use non‑flashing techniques first: stronger contrast, weight, typography, icons, or motion that is slow, subtle and informative rather than attention‑seeking. When animation is required (e.g., a gentle attention cue), always:

  • keep the frequency low (well below the WCAG flash threshold),
  • provide user controls (pause/stop), and
  • respect the user’s reduced‑motion preference using prefers-reduced-motion.

A simple, safe pattern is a slow pulse with a media query to disable it for users who prefer reduced motion:

/* gentle pulse (low intensity, slow) */
@keyframes pulse { 0%,100%{opacity:1} 50%{opacity:0.7} }
.pulse { animation: pulse 2s ease-in-out infinite; }

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  .pulse { animation: none; }
}

Use programmatic controls where appropriate so users can pause or hide moving content. (developer.mozilla.org)

Bottom line: agree with and several replies here — blinking is easy to add but a poor, risky UX choice. Favor readable, accessible emphasis and only use motion when it’s necessary, gentle, and user‑controllable. (mdn2.netlify.app)

Recommended Answers

All 12 Replies

Member Avatar for hughv

Blinking is generally a bad idea. You'll drive people away very rapidly.

Member Avatar for topsege2007

Blinking is generally a bad idea. You'll drive people away very rapidly.

thanks for your advice.

Member Avatar for macneato

Plus it isnt supported by most new browsers. Older versions of netscape supported it (not too sure now though).

Any way, just for interest sake. The tag is,
[blink][/blink]

Member Avatar for MidiMagic

It is not a good idea to make text blink. It can cause epileptic seizures. I have seen this happen.

It is not a good idea to use nonstandard tags or features.

Member Avatar for Suneetha Reddy

you can give this:
style="text-decoration:blink"

this works in only firefox not in ie...

Member Avatar for omol

If you must make blinking text make a gif and display the image. use the FIR method to hide the text.

Member Avatar for sreein1986

hi
first write this code between head tag and try it

<script type="text/javascript">
var i
function glow()
{
i=0
interval=setInterval("makeglow()",10)
}

function back()	
{
clearInterval(interval)
document.getElementById('myHeader').style.filter=false
}

function makeglow()
{
i++
if (i<5)
{
document.getElementById('myHeader').style.filter="glow(strength=" + i + ")"
}
else if (window.interval)
{
clearInterval(interval)
}
}
</script>

and write this code after body tag in your html code

<h3 id="myHeader" onMouseOver="glow()" onMouseOut="back()" style="cursor:hand">Srees</h3>

this code work firefox and IE also

Member Avatar for tiger86

I would steer clear of blinking text if it causes seizures but if you must have blinking text I would put a warning up for people with seizures so we will navigate elsewhere to prevent seizures.

Member Avatar for hughv

I would steer clear of blinking text if it causes seizures but if you must have blinking text I would put a warning up for people with seizures so we will navigate elsewhere to prevent seizures.

This is a greatly exaggerated threat, as a little research will quickly show:
"As far as I'm aware, there has never been a reported case of photosensitive epilepsy caused by web content ..."
http://juicystudio.com/article/photosensitive-epilepsy.php#andtheweb
The fact is that blinking is both distracting and annoying. Why would you want to distract and annoy your visitors?
Blinking is kinda' like Flash:just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Member Avatar for tiger86

Don't quote me quote midimagic I was just adding onto that because I do have seizures and I do know photosensitive seizures can happen on the web.

Member Avatar for MidiMagic

I have seen it happen in two different people.

Member Avatar for AON07

What HTML tag can i make use of inorder to make a text blink.
Thanks

If you truly want to use blinking text I would use photoshop to create a .gif,
here is a tutorial you could follow.
http://www.webdesign.org/web/photoshop/imageready-animation/neon-blinking-text-effect.10108.html

However unless your page is a "myspace" page I would follow everyone's advice and stay away from blinking objects. If you seriously cant resist the blinking objects then find some advertisments to place on your page that use .gif banner ads. at least you'll have a chance of making some money out of it.

good luck. :)

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