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HTML Block and Inline Elements


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

The two display values are: block and 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.

Example

<div>Hello World</div>
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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.

Example

<span>Hello World</span>
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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:

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>
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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:

Example

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