[css-text-decor] Remove `blink` value from `text-decoration`

[nt1m]

It's not shipping in Blink or WebKit and it's already deprecated. There's no reason to keep it around anymore.

[schenney-chromium]

Absolutely. Can we async resolve on this?

[fantasai]

No, we can't remove it, because that would make declarations like text-decoration: blink underline invalid. At least now they are underlined.

[nt1m]

They're already invalid in Blink and WebKit... I'm not convinced compat is a good argument here

[fantasai]

Testcase

[nt1m]

Ah, I was mislead by the WPT results then :( It would maybe be good still to clarify how blink serializes?

[schenney-chromium]

Searching all of github reveals 2 projects using text-decoration: blink [over/under]line

A httparchive query on the httparchive.almanac.parsed_css table for any text-decoration: *blink* gives the table below in json format.

It would take a bit more work to figure out which sites combine blink with something else valid, but 2500ish sites may not be enough reason to keep blink around.

[{
"value": "blink",
"freq": "179204"
}, {
"value": "blink !important",
"freq": "2948"
}, {
"value": "underline blink",
"freq": "1452"
}, {
"value": "blink!important",
"freq": "1448"
}, {
"value": "2px overline underline blink #3c883c",
"freq": "346"
}, {
"value": "overline blink",
"freq": "325"
}, {
"value": "blink underline",
"freq": "231"
}, {
"value": "underline overline blink",
"freq": "216"
}, {
"value": "line-through blink",
"freq": "97"
}, {
"value": "underline, blink",
"freq": "84"
}, {
"value": "none blink",
"freq": "55"
}, {
"value": "underline overline line-through blink",
"freq": "45"
}, {
"value": "blinker",
"freq": "43"
}, {
"value": "underline overline blink none",
"freq": "39"
}, {
"value": "blink ",
"freq": "24"
}, {
"value": "\u0027blink\u0027",
"freq": "17"
}, {
"value": "underline,blink",
"freq": "16"
}, {
"value": "blink, underline",
"freq": "15"
}, {
"value": "underline blink !important",
"freq": "15"
}, {
"value": "overline underline blink",
"freq": "14"
}, {
"value": "blink blink",
"freq": "14"
}, {
"value": "blinks",
"freq": "12"
}, {
"value": "blink underline dotted",
"freq": "12"
}, {
"value": "inherit blink",
"freq": "10"
}, {
"value": "underline blink?, OffX\u003d?, OffY\u003d?, Positive\u003d?)",
"freq": "9"
}, {
"value": "none|underline,blink",
"freq": "9"
}, {
"value": "blinking",
"freq": "8"
}, {
"value": "blinka",
"freq": "8"
}, {
"value": "blink !Important",
"freq": "8"
}, {
"value": "blink line-through",
"freq": "8"
}, {
"value": "bold,blink",
"freq": "8"
}, {
"value": "none, blink",
"freq": "8"
}, {
"value": "blinker2",
"freq": "6"
}, {
"value": "blink underline overline",
"freq": "6"
}, {
"value": "blink2",
"freq": "6"
}, {
"value": "blink underline overline!important",
"freq": "5"
}, {
"value": "TermometroUSB_blink",
"freq": "5"
}, {
"value": "bold underline blink",
"freq": "5"
}, {
"value": "blink-webkit-animation-name:blinker",
"freq": "5"
}, {
"value": "\u0027underline\u0027,\u0027blink\u0027",
"freq": "4"
}, {
"value": "blink?, Direction\u003d?, Strength\u003d?)",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "SHARP, blink",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "underline/blink/",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blink auto!important",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "text-decoration: blink",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blink ! important",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blink none",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blinker-neon",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blink,color:#314754",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "underline , blink",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blink,none",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "line-through,overline,blink,underline",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blink,underline",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blink underline overline !important",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "[ blink || overline ] | inherit",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "\u0027underline|blink\u0027",
"freq": "2"
}, {
"value": "blink-text",
"freq": "1"
}, {
"value": "blink color : #0000ff",
"freq": "1"
}, {
"value": "line-through,blink",
"freq": "1"
}, {
"value": "blink -webkit-animation-name:blinker",
"freq": "1"
}, {
"value": "underline | blink",
"freq": "1"
}, {
"value": "\u0027blink\u0027,\u0027underline\u0027",
"freq": "1"
}, {
"value": "blink #FC0",
"freq": "1"
}]

[frivoal]

The spec already allows UAs not to blink when that value is used. Surely we would not introduce it today, but we have interop on parsing it and on not blinking.

I think we could update the spec to say you're not supposed to do anything when this value is specified, but it makes sense to me to keep supporting it, so that when it is combined with other values, it keeps parsing.

[tabatkins]

Yeah, just a quick

For legacy purposes, implementations must also support the blink keyword, which has no effect.

[mdubet]

What should be the computed value when blink is specified ? Engines disagree.

https://wpt.fyi/results/css/css-text-decor/parsing/text-decoration-line-computed.html?label=master&label=experimental&aligned&view=interop&q=label%3Ainterop-2025-textdecoration