HTML <spacer> Tag (Obsolete) — What to Use Instead

The HTML <spacer> tag is an obsolete element that no modern browser supports. Do not use it. If you need to add empty space between elements on a web page, reach for CSS instead — the margin, padding, and gap properties give you full, reliable control across every browser.

This page explains what <spacer> was, why it disappeared, and — most importantly — the modern CSS techniques you should use in its place.

Danger

The <spacer> tag was never part of any official HTML standard. It has been non-functional in every major browser for over two decades. Any <spacer> element in your markup is silently ignored. Use CSS margin, padding, or gap instead.

A brief history

In the mid-1990s, before CSS was widely available, web authors had no standard way to control spacing. A common hack was to insert a transparent 1×1 pixel image (the "spacer GIF") and stretch it with width and height attributes to push content around.

To make this less clumsy, Netscape introduced the proprietary <spacer> element in Netscape Navigator in the mid-1990s. It let you add horizontal, vertical, or block-shaped empty space without loading an image. However:

It was a Netscape-only extension — Internet Explorer and other browsers never implemented it.
It was never added to the HTML specification.
Once CSS matured, it became completely unnecessary.

As a result, <spacer> was abandoned. Today it is listed among the obsolete and deprecated HTML tags and is ignored by all browsers.

The old (non-functional) syntax

For historical reference only, this is how <spacer> was written. The tag was empty, so it had no closing tag. This code does nothing in any current browser — it is shown purely to illustrate the legacy syntax.

<!-- OBSOLETE — does not work in any modern browser. Do not use. -->
<p>
  Some text
  <spacer type="horizontal" size="100">
  more text after a horizontal gap.
</p>

<spacer type="block" width="100" height="50">

The modern way: use CSS

CSS replaces every use case the <spacer> tag tried to cover, and works everywhere.

Horizontal and vertical space with `margin` / `padding`

Use margin to add space outside an element and padding to add space inside it. The example below adds horizontal space between two words and vertical space below a paragraph:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .gap-right {
        /* horizontal space after the word */
        margin-right: 100px;
      }
      .spaced {
        /* vertical space below the paragraph */
        margin-bottom: 40px;
      }
      .padded {
        /* internal space on all sides */
        padding: 20px;
        background-color: #d4f0f0;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p>
      <span class="gap-right">Start</span>End
    </p>
    <p class="spaced">This paragraph has 40px of space below it.</p>
    <p class="padded">This paragraph has 20px of padding inside it.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Result

Even spacing between items with `gap`

When you arrange items with Flexbox or CSS Grid, the gap property adds consistent space between them without touching the items' own margins:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .row {
        display: flex;
        gap: 24px; /* space between every item */
      }
      .row > div {
        padding: 10px 16px;
        background-color: #d4f0f0;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="row">
      <div>One</div>
      <div>Two</div>
      <div>Three</div>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Result

Other ways to add space

Depending on what you need, these standard HTML and CSS options also help control blank space:

The <p> tag creates a paragraph break with default spacing above and below.
The <br> tag inserts a single line break.
The <pre> tag preserves preformatted text, so blank lines and spaces appear exactly as written in the HTML.
The   character entity creates a non-breaking space.
The 	 character is a tab. It usually needs surrounding text or CSS such as white-space: pre to render visibly.

Legacy attributes (for reference)

These attributes belonged to the obsolete <spacer> tag. They are listed only so you can recognize them in old markup — none of them function today.

Attribute	Value	Description
align	`left`, `right`, `center`	Alignment of a `block`-type spacer.
size	number of pixels	Size of the empty space for `horizontal` or `vertical` spacers.
width	number of pixels	Width of the empty space for a `block`-type spacer.
height	number of pixels	Height of the empty space for a `block`-type spacer.
type	`horizontal`, `vertical`, `block`	Direction/shape of the spacer.

Practice

Which statement about the HTML spacer tag is correct?

It is an obsolete Netscape element that no modern browser supports, so you should use CSS instead.It is part of the current HTML standard and works in every browser.It is the recommended way to add space between flex items.It adds a border around an element.