THE WORLD'S LARGEST WEB DEVELOPER SITE
HTMLCSSJAVASCRIPTSQLPHPBOOTSTRAPJQUERYANGULARXML
 

HTML 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.

Examples of block-level elements:

  • <div>
  • <h1> - <h6>
  • <p>
  • <form>

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.

Examples of inline elements:

  • <span>
  • <a>
  • <img>

The <div> Element

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

The <div> element has no required attributes, but style and class 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>
Try it Yourself »

The <span> Element

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

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

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

Example

<h1>My <span style="color:red">Important</span> Heading</h1>
Try it Yourself »

HTML Grouping Tags

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