Internet and Web Programming – SWE 311 

 
HTML Element Classification

Block vs Inline

Definition: Block level

The short definition is that block-level elements are elements that create blocks or large
groupings of text.

block-level elements have some specific distinctions from inline elements:

• block-level elements generally can contain text, data, inline elements, or other block-level
elements.
• block-level elements generally begin new lines of text.
• block-level elements inherit directionality information differently from inline elements.

Examples:

• <p></p>
• <blockquote></blockquote>
• <table></table>

Definition: Inline Element

The short definition is that inline elements are elements that are found in the text of the HTML
document. They are also sometimes called text level elements.

Inline elements have some specific distinctions from block-level elements:

• Inline elements generally only contain text, data or other inline elements. They are
usually "smaller" than block-level elements.
• Inline elements do not generally begin new lines of text.
• Inline elements inherit directionality information differently from block-level elements.

Also Known As: text level elements

Examples:

• <span></span>
• <strong></strong>
• <abbr></abbr>
 Internet and Web Programming – SWE 311 
 
Common Block-Level Elements

* The DIV Tag

* The P Tag

* The BLOCKQUOTE Tag

Common Inline Elements

* The SPAN Tag

* The STRONG Tag

* The BR Tag