HTML Block and Inline Elements

Every HTML element has a default display value, depending on what type of element it is.

Display Value : The Display value is the property of the Visible Elements, that specifies the display behavior of Elements in user's Browser.

There are two display values: block and inline.

Block-level Elements

A block-level element always starts on a new line, and the browsers automatically add some space (a margin) before and after the element.

A block-level element always takes up the full width available (stretches out to the left and right as far as it can).

Two commonly used block elements are: <p> and <div>.

The <p> element defines a paragraph in an HTML document.

The <div> element defines a division or a section in an HTML document.

Example

<p>Hello World</p>

<div>Hello World</div>

Hello World

Hello World

Inline Elements

An inline element does not start on a new line.

An inline element only takes up as much width as necessary.

Example

<p>This is <span>Hello World</span></p>

This is Hello World

Note: An inline element cannot contain a block-level element!

The <div> Element

The <div> element is often used as a container for other HTML elements.

The <div> element has no required attributes, but style, class and id are common.

When used together with CSS, the <div> element can be used to style blocks of content:

Example

<div style="background-color:black;color:white;padding:20px;">

  <h2>London</h2>

  <p>London is the capital city of England. It is the most populous city in the United Kingdom, with a metropolitan area of over 13 million inhabitants.</p>

</div>

London

London is the capital city of England. It is the most populous city in the United Kingdom, with a metropolitan area of over 13 million inhabitants.

The <span> Element

The <span> element is an inline container used to mark up or style a part of a text, or a part of a document.

The <span> element has no required attributes, but style, class and id are common.

When used together with CSS, the <span> element can be used to style parts of the text:

Example

<p>My mother has <span style="color:blue;font-weight:bold">blue</span> eyes and my father has <span style="color:darkolivegreen;font-weight:bold">dark green</span> eyes.</p>

My mother has blue eyes and my father has dark green eyes.

Chapter Summary

Tag	Description
<div>	Defines a section in a document (block-level)
<span>	Defines a section in a document (inline)