Block and Inline Elements

Every HTML element has a default display value depending on what type of element it is. The default display value for most elements is block or inline.

Block-level Elements

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

The <div> element is a block-level element.

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

Block level elements in HTML:

Inline Elements

An inline element does not start on a new line and only takes up as much width as necessary.

This is an inline <span> element inside a paragraph.

<span>Hello</span>
<span>World</span>

Inline elements in HTML:

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:

<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>

The <span> Element

The <span> element is often used as a container for some text.

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:

<h1>My <span style="color:red">Important</span> Heading</h1>

HTML Grouping Tags

For a complete list of all available HTML tags, visit our HTML Tag Reference.