Every HTML element has a default display value, depending on what type of element it is.
There are two display values: block and inline.
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.
The <p> element is a block-level element.
<p>Hello World</p>
<div>Hello World</div>
Here are the block-level elements in HTML:
An inline element does not start on a new line.
An inline element only takes up as much width as necessary.
This is a <span> element inside a paragraph.
<span>Hello World</span>
Here are the inline elements in HTML:
Note: An inline element cannot contain a block-level 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:
<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 is an inline
container used to mark up 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:
<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.
<div>
element is a
block-level and is often used as a container for other HTML elements
<span>
element is an inline
container used to mark up a part of a text, or a part of a document
Tag | Description |
---|---|
<div> | Defines a section in a document (block-level) |
<span> | Defines a section in a document (inline) |
For a complete list of all available HTML tags, visit our HTML Tag Reference.