Inline and block elements

Posted by Asad Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 12:08 AM

While creating an HTML page, it is important to understand the difference between the 2 elements categories inline and block to avoid coding errors and impost the CSS for the best.

Those 2 words, ‘block’ and ‘inline’ are explicit enough by themselves..

  • block: an element which forms a separate block
  • inline: an element which stays inline with the rest of the content

Block element

A block element has the following characteristics:
  • Forms a block and positions itself vertically underneath with a new empty line above and under
  • Takes all the available width based on the measure of its parent element (container)
  • Its height changes in rapport to its content
  • Can contains other inline and/or block elements (es: a <p> inside a <div>)
  • Via css, we can impost a fixed width and/or height
  • Example of natural html block element: <div>, <h1>…<h6>, <p>, <ul>, <ol>, <dl>, <table>, <blockquote>, <form>

Inline elements

An inline element has the following characteristics:
  • Positions itself horizontally inline with the rest of the content of its parent element (container)
  • Takes the minimum width and height in rapport to its content
  • Can contains ONLY other inline elements (es: an <img/> inside a <a>)
  • Via css, we can NOT impost fixed measure
  • Example of natural html inline elements: <span>, <a>, <strong>, <em>, <img />, <abbr>, <acronym>

Using the css display:block; and display:inline;, we can change the property of the element from block to inline or from inline to block.


CSS Block & CSS Inline Elements

Posted by Asad Monday, December 13, 2010 at 10:42 PM

The 3 ways that HTML elements can be displayed

All HTML elements are naturally displayed in one of the following ways:


Block
       Takes up the full width available, with a new line before and after
       (display:block;)

Inline
       Takes up only as much width as it needs, and does not force new lines
       (display:inline;)

Not displayed
       Some tags, like <meta /> and <style> are not visible
       (display:none;) 

Block example

<p> tags and <div> tags are naturally displayed block-style.

(I say “naturally” because you can override the display style by setting the CSS display property e.g. display:inline;.)

A block-display element will span the full width of the space available to it, and so will start on a new line in the flow of HTML. The flow will continue on a new line after the block-display element.

Here I’ve started a paragraph and now I’m going to insert a <div>

new div inside my paragraph

and then continue the text here…

See how the <div> jumped in and took over the full width of the space?

Common HTML elements that are naturally block-display include:
<div>
        Your general-purpose box
 
<h1> … <h6>
        All headings
 
<p>
        Paragraph
 
<ul>, <ol>, <dl>
        Lists (unordered, ordered and definition)
 
<li>, <dt>, <dd>
        List items, definition list terms, and definition list definitions
 
<table>
        Tables
 
<blockquote>
        Like an indented paragraph, meant for quoting passages of text
 
<pre>
        Indicates a block of preformatted code
 
<form>
        An input form

Inline example

Inline-display elements don’t break the flow. They just fit in with the flow of the document.

So here I’ve got a paragraph going on, and I’m going to add a <span> tag that has a yellow background and italic text. See how it just fits right in with the flow of the text?

More elements are naturally inline-style, including:

<span>
        Your all-purpose inline element
 
<a>
        Anchor, used for links (and also to mark specific targets on a page for direct linking)
 
<strong>
        Used to make your content strong, displayed as bold in most browsers, replaces the narrower <b> (bold) tag
 
<em>
        Adds emphasis, but less strong than <strong>. Usually displayed as italic text, and replaces the old <i> (italic) tag
 
<img />
        Image
 
<br>
        The line-break is an odd case, as it’s an inline element that forces a new line. However, as the text carries on on the next line, it’s not a block-level element. 
 
<input>
        Form input fields like and
 
<abbr>
        Indicates an abbr. (hover to see how it works)
 
<acronym>
        Working much like the abbreviation, but used for things like this TLA.
 

You change the display property of any elements


Although each HTML element has its natural display style, you can over-ride these in CSS.

This can be very useful when you want your page to look a particular way while using semantically-correct HTML.

Examples

Say you want to provide a list of items, but you don’t want a big bulleted list. You just want to say that you’re going to the store to buy:
  • some fizzy drinks,
  • a chainsaw,
  • and some nylon stockings.
Or maybe you want a nice toolbar, which is stricly a list (of links) and so should be marked up as a
    .

Here’s the code


<ul>

<li><a href=”#”>Home</a></li>
<li><a href=”#”>About us</a></li>
<li><a href=”#”>Products</a></li>
<li><a href=”#”>FAQs</a></li>
<li><a href=”#”>Contact us</a></li> 
</ul>

Here’s how it looks as a normal list


Just adding the class “toolbar”…

<style type=”text/css”>


.toolbar li {


display:inline;
background-color:#eee;
border:1px solid;
border-color:#f3f3f3 #bbb #bbb #f3f3f3;
margin:0;
padding:.5em;
zoom: 1;
} 
</style> 
<ul class=”toolbar”>

<li><a href=”#”>Home</a></li>
<li><a href=”#”>About us</a></li>
<li><a href=”#”>Products</a></li>
<li><a href=”#”>FAQs</a></li>
<li><a href=”#”>Contact us</a></li>
</ul>

Here’s how it looks with the CSS styles applied



Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)