Block-level elements

In this article, we'll examine HTML block-level elements and how they differ from inline-level elements.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) elements historically were categorized as either "block-level" elements or "inline-level" elements. Since this is a presentational characteristic it is nowadays specified by CSS in the Flow Layout. A Block-level element occupies the entire horizontal space of its parent element (container), and vertical space equal to the height of its contents, thereby creating a "block".

Browsers typically display the block-level element with a newline both before and after the element. You can visualize them as a stack of boxes.

Note: 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 following example demonstrates the block-level element's influence:

Block-level elements

HTML

<p>This paragraph is a block-level element; its background has been colored to display the paragraph's parent element.</p>

CSS

p { background-color: #8ABB55; }

Usage

Block-level elements may appear only within a <body> element.

Block-level vs. inline

There are a couple of key differences between block-level elements and inline elements:

Content model: Generally, block-level elements may contain inline elements and (sometimes) other block-level elements. Inherent in this structural distinction is the idea that block elements create "larger" structures than inline elements.
Default formatting: By default, block-level elements begin on new lines, but inline elements can start anywhere in a line.

The distinction of block-level vs. inline elements was used in HTML specifications up to 4.01. In HTML5, this binary distinction is replaced with a more complex set of content categories. While the "inline" category roughly corresponds to the category of phrasing content, the "block-level" category doesn't directly correspond to any HTML5 content category, but "block-level" and "inline" elements combined together correspond to the flow content in HTML5. There are also additional categories, e.g. interactive content.

Elements

The following is a complete list of all HTML "block-level" elements (although "block-level" is not technically defined for elements that are new in HTML5).

<address>: Contact information.
<article>: Article content.
<aside>: Aside content.
<blockquote>: Long ("block") quotation.
<details>: Disclosure widget.
<dialog>: Dialog box.
<dd>: Describes a term in a description list.
<div>: Document division.
<dl>: Description list.
<dt>: Description list term.
<fieldset>: Field set label.
<figcaption>: Figure caption.
<figure>: Groups media content with a caption (see <figcaption>).
<footer>: Section or page footer.
<form>: Input form.
<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6>: Heading levels 1-6.
<header>: Section or page header.
<hgroup>: Groups header information.
<hr>: Horizontal rule (dividing line).
<li>: List item.
<main>: Contains the central content unique to this document.
<nav>: Contains navigation links.
<ol>: Ordered list.
<p>: Paragraph.
<pre>: Preformatted text.
<section>: Section of a web page.
<table>: Table.
<ul>: Unordered list.

Block-level elements

Block-level elements

HTML

CSS

Usage

Block-level vs. inline

Elements

See also