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HTML should be avoided in the main namespace. HTML should be confined to the template namespace as much as is possible. Of especial importance: please do not build tables — such as infoboxes and navigation templates — with HTML directly on regular article pages. When you do this, you make it impossible to update the look of the table except by directly editing that particular page. The advantage of templates is that they allow you to make edits to the single template page which are then seen on all the pages that share the template.
Please don't use HTML, even within a template, to subvert the general styling of the main article space (namespace:0).
Only Wiki coding should be used on normal article pages. Even seemingly minimal usage of HTML, such as with tags like
<b> and <i>
makes it very difficult for bots to maintain the wiki, because raw HTML is simply not expected. Likewise, the use of
<ul> and <li>
can interfere with the coding of some templates.
You should also avoid underlining text, as this will confuse users with browsers configured to signify hotlinks with underlining. Coloured text should be similarly avoided.
Another good reason to avoid using even minor HTML on regular pages is because some of these commands have actually been deprecated, and they will not be supported in upcoming, HTML 4.0-based browsers. Amongst the tags you should definitely avoid are:
<applet>, <basefont>, <center>, <dir>, <font>, <isindex>, <menu>, <s>, <strike>, <u>
Although some of these are obscure, some, like <center>, <u> and <s> can be found throughout the wiki. These references should be gradually phased out, to ensure full compatibility with post-2011 browsers. Here's a site that explains this issue in greater detail.