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:
<address> |
<article> |
<aside> |
<blockquote> |
<canvas> |
<dd> |
<div> |
<dl> |
<dt> |
<fieldset> |
<figcaption> |
<figure> |
<footer> |
<form> |
<h1>-<h6> |
<header> |
<hr> |
<li> |
<main> |
<nav> |
<noscript> |
<ol> |
<output> |
<p> |
<pre> |
<section> |
<table> |
<tfoot> |
<ul> |
<video> |
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:
<a> |
<abbr> |
<acronym> |
<b> |
<bdo> |
<big> |
<br> |
<button> |
<cite> |
<code> |
<dfn> |
<em> |
<i> |
<img> |
<input> |
<kbd> |
<label> |
<map> |
<object> |
<q> |
<samp> |
<script> |
<select> |
<small> |
<span> |
<strong> |
<sub> |
<sup> |
<textarea> |
<time> |
<tt> |
<var> |
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
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.