The “type” attribute for the “style” element is not needed and should be omitted.

In earlier versions of HTML (HTML 4 and XHTML), the type attribute was required on the <style> element to declare the MIME type of the styling language being used. The value was almost always text/css, as CSS has been the dominant stylesheet language for the web since its inception.

With HTML5, the specification changed. The type attribute on <style> now defaults to text/css, and since no browser supports any other styling language, the attribute serves no practical purpose. The WHATWG HTML Living Standard explicitly notes that the attribute is unnecessary and can be omitted. The W3C validator flags its presence as a warning to encourage cleaner, more modern markup.

Why This Matters

• Cleaner code: Removing unnecessary attributes reduces file size (even if marginally) and improves readability. Every attribute should earn its place in your markup.
• Standards compliance: Modern HTML encourages omitting default values when they add no information. Including type="text/css" signals outdated coding practices.
• Consistency: The same principle applies to <script> elements, where type="text/javascript" is also unnecessary. Keeping your markup consistent by omitting both makes your codebase easier to maintain.

How to Fix It

The fix is straightforward: find every <style> element in your HTML that includes a type attribute and remove it. No other changes are needed — the browser behavior will be identical.

If you’re working on a large codebase, a simple search for <style type= across your files will help you find all instances.

Examples

❌ Incorrect: Redundant type attribute

<style type="text/css">
  p {
    color: red;
  }
</style>
<p>This text will be red.</p>

The type="text/css" attribute is unnecessary and triggers the W3C validator warning.

✅ Correct: type attribute omitted

<style>
  p {
    color: red;
  }
</style>
<p>This text will be red.</p>

Without the type attribute, the browser still interprets the contents as CSS — the behavior is exactly the same.

❌ Incorrect: Other variations that also trigger the warning

The warning is triggered regardless of how the type value is formatted:

<style type="text/css" media="screen">
  body {
    font-family: sans-serif;
  }
</style>

✅ Correct: Other attributes are fine, just remove type

<style media="screen">
  body {
    font-family: sans-serif;
  }
</style>

Note that other valid attributes like media or nonce should be kept — only the type attribute needs to be removed.

Learn more:

MDN Reference

MDN: The Style information element

→

wordpress.org

WordPress plugin: Type Attribute Warnings Removal

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