index.md

---

title: '<blink>: The Blinking Text element'
slug: Web/HTML/Element/blink
page-type: html-element
status:
  - deprecated
browser-compat: html.elements.blink

---

{{HTMLSidebar}}{{Deprecated_header}}

The <blink> HTML element is a non-standard element which causes the enclosed text to flash slowly.

Warning: Do not use this element as it is obsolete and is bad design practice. Blinking text is frowned upon by several accessibility standards and the CSS specification allows browsers to ignore the <blink> element.

DOM interface

This element is unsupported and thus implements the {{domxref("HTMLUnknownElement")}} interface.

Example

<blink>Why would somebody use this?</blink>

Result (toned down!)

CSS polyfill

If you really do need a polyfill, then you can use the following CSS polyfill. Works in IE10+.

blink {
  animation: 2s linear infinite condemned_blink_effect;
}

@keyframes condemned_blink_effect {
  0% {
    visibility: hidden;
  }
  50% {
    visibility: hidden;
  }
  100% {
    visibility: visible;
  }
}

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• History of the creation of the HTML <blink> element.

• {{cssxref("text-decoration")}}, where a blink value exists, though browsers are not required to effectively make it blink.

• {{htmlelement("marquee")}}, another similar non-standard element.

• CSS animations are the way to go to create such an effect.