Accessibility Rule: <marquee> elements are deprecated and must not be used

About This Accessibility Rule

The <marquee> element was never part of any official HTML standard and has been deprecated by all major browsers. It produces text that continuously scrolls across the screen, making it extremely difficult to read, interact with, or comprehend. Even though browsers may still render it, the element should never appear in modern web content.

Why This Is an Accessibility Problem

Scrolling marquee text creates barriers for several groups of users:

Users with low vision may not be able to read text that is constantly in motion. The movement makes it nearly impossible to track and process the words.
Users with cognitive disabilities or attention deficits can be distracted or overwhelmed by content that moves without their control. Automatic motion competes for attention and can make it difficult to focus on other parts of the page.
Users with limited motor skills may be unable to accurately click on links or interactive elements embedded within scrolling content, since the targets are constantly shifting position.
Screen reader users may encounter inconsistent or confusing output, since the <marquee> element is non-standard and assistive technologies are not required to support it.

This rule relates to WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.2.2: Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A), which requires that for any moving, blinking, or scrolling content that starts automatically and lasts more than five seconds, there must be a mechanism for users to pause, stop, or hide it. The <marquee> element provides no such mechanism by default, making it a failure of this criterion. This is also documented as a known failure technique: F16: Failure of Success Criterion 2.2.2 due to including scrolling content where movement is not essential to the activity without also including a mechanism to pause and restart the content.

How to Fix It

The fix is straightforward: remove all <marquee> elements from your HTML, including empty ones. Then decide how to handle the content:

Display the content as static text. In most cases, this is the best approach. Simply place the text in a standard element like a <p> or <span>.
If motion is truly needed, use CSS animations instead, and provide a visible control (such as a pause button) that allows users to stop the animation. Ensure the animation also respects the prefers-reduced-motion media query.

Examples

Incorrect: Using the `<marquee>` Element

This code uses the deprecated <marquee> element to create scrolling text with links. Users cannot pause or stop the movement.

<marquee behavior="scroll" direction="left">
  Frisbeetarianism is the
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief">belief</a> that when you
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death">die</a>, your
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul">soul</a> goes up on the
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roof">roof</a> and gets stuck.
</marquee>

Correct: Static Text

The simplest and most accessible fix is to display the content as regular, non-moving text.

<p>
  Frisbeetarianism is the
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief">belief</a> that when you
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death">die</a>, your
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul">soul</a> goes up on the
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roof">roof</a> and gets stuck.
</p>

Correct: CSS Animation with Pause Control and Reduced Motion Support

If scrolling text is a design requirement, use CSS with a pause button and respect the user’s motion preferences.

<div class="scrolling-container">
  <p class="scrolling-text" id="ticker">
    Breaking news: Accessibility makes the web better for everyone.
  </p>
  <button type="button" onclick="document.getElementById('ticker').classList.toggle('paused')">
    Pause / Resume
  </button>
</div>

<style>
  .scrolling-text {
    animation: scroll-left 10s linear infinite;
  }
  .scrolling-text.paused {
    animation-play-state: paused;
  }
  @keyframes scroll-left {
    from { transform: translateX(100%); }
    to { transform: translateX(-100%); }
  }
  @media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
    .scrolling-text {
      animation: none;
    }
  }
</style>

This approach gives users control over the motion and automatically disables the animation for users who have indicated they prefer reduced motion in their operating system settings.

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