The hr element draws a horizontal rule according to visual rules built into the browser with a variety of attribute controls. As a block element, the hr element starts and ends its rule on its own line, as if the element were surrounded by br elements. This element is not a content container, and many of the attributes that have been in use for a long time are deprecated in HTML 4 in favor of style sheet rules. The HTML recommendation leaves default appearance specifications up to the browser maker.

Determines how the hr element is rendered in physical relation to the next outermost container (usually the body or html element). The align attribute is deprecated in HTML 4 in favor of the align style sheet attribute.

Sets the color of the hr element in Internet Explorer. Setting the color attribute also turns on the noshade attribute. If you want a 3-D effect rule to appear with a color, use the style sheet color attribute. Navigator 4 and later, however, doesn't apply color style sheet rules to hr elements.

The language being used for the element's attribute values and content. A browser can use this information to assist in proper rendering of content with respect to details such as treatment of ligatures (when supported by a particular font or required by a written language), quotation marks, and hyphenation. Other applications and search engines might use this information to aid the selection of spell-checking dictionaries and the creation of indices.

The presence of the noshade attribute tells the browser to render the rule as a flat (not 3-D) line. In Internet Explorer only, if you set the color attribute, the browser changes the default line style to a no-shade style.

You can override the default thickness of the hr element by assigning a value to the size attribute. The size attribute is deprecated in HTML 4 in favor of the height style sheet attribute.

Defines the precise pixel width or percentage of available width (relative to the containing element) to draw the hr element rule. This attribute is deprecated in HTML 4 in favor of the width style sheet attribute.