HTML Block & Inline

HTML Block and Inline Elements

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

The two most common display values are block and inline.

Block-level Elements

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

A block-level element always takes up the full width available.

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

The <p> element defines a paragraph.

The <div> element defines a division or section.

<p>Hello World</p> <div>Hello World</div>

Common block-level elements in HTML include:

<address> <article> <aside> <blockquote> <canvas> <dd> <div> <dl> <dt> <fieldset> <figcaption> <figure> <footer> <form> <h1>–<h6> <header> <hr> <li> <main> <nav> <noscript> <ol> <p> <pre> <section> <table> <tfoot> <ul> <video>

Inline Elements

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>

Common inline elements in HTML include:

<a> <abbr> <acronym> <b> <bdo> <big> <br> <button> <cite> <code> <dfn> <em> <i> <img> <input> <kbd> <label> <map> <object> <output> <q> <samp> <script> <select> <small> <span> <strong> <sub> <sup> <textarea> <time> <tt> <var>

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.

It has no required attributes, but style, class, and id are commonly used.

When combined with CSS, <div> 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.</p> </div>

The span Element

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

It has no required attributes, but style, class, and id are commonly used.

When combined with CSS, <span> can be used to style small parts of 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>

Chapter Summary

• Block-level elements start on a new line and take up the full width available
• Inline elements do not start on a new line and only take up the width they need
• The <div> element is a block-level container
• The <span> element is an inline container

Exercise

Which type of elements takes up the full width available?

Block elements Inline elements

HTML Tags

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