Head First HTML with CSS

there are no
Dumb Questions
Q: I think I know what a linebreak is; it’s like hitting the carriage return on
a typewriter or the return key on a computer keyboard. Right?
A: Pretty much. A linebreak is literally a “break in the line,” like
this, and happens when you hit the Return key, or on some computers, the Enter key. You already know that
linebreaks in HTML files don’t show up visually when the browser displays a page, right? But now you’ve also
seen that any time you use a block element, the browser uses linebreaks to separate each “block”.
Once again, this
all sounds great,
but why is all this talk of
linebreaks, blocks, and inline
elements useful? Can we get
back to Web pages?
Don’t underestimate the power of knowing how HTML
works. You’re soon going to see that the way you
combine elements in a page has a lot to do with whether
elements are block or inline. We’ll get to all that.
In the meantime, you can also think about block versus
inline this way: block elements are used as the major
building blocks of your Web page, while inline elements
mark up small pieces of content. When you’re designing
a page, you typically start with the bigger chunks (the
block elements) and then add in the inline elements as
you refine the page.
The real payoff is going to come when we get to
controlling the presentation of HTML with CSS. If you
know the difference between inline and block, you’re
going to be sipping martinis while everyone else is still
trying to get their layout right.
building blocks
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