Head First HTML with CSS

Q: So, the only purpose of is to
insert a linebreak?
A: Right; the only place the browser typically
inserts breaks in your content is when you start a
new block element (like , , and so on). If
you want to insert a linebreak into your text, then
you use the element.
Q: Why is called an “empty”
element?
A: Because it has no content, as in
element = opening tag + content + closing tag.
So, it’s empty because there’s no content.
Q: I still don’t get it. Explain why the
element is “empty”?
A: Think about an element like (or
or ). The whole point of the element is to tag
some content, like:
Don’t wait, order now
With the element, the point is just to insert
a linebreak into your HTML. There is no content
you are trying to mark up, so it’s empty. Since
it is empty, we don’t need all the extra brackets
and markup, so we just shorten it into a more
convenient form.
If an element doesn’t need to mark up some text,
then it is probably an empty element.
Q: Are there any other empty elements?
I think must be an empty element, too,
right?
there are no
Dumb Questions
A: Yes, there are a few of them. You’ve
already seen us use the element, and we’ll
be getting to the details of this element soon.
Q: Can I make any element empty? For
instance if I have a link, and don’t want to give
it any content, can I just write
instead?
A: No. There are two types of elements in
the world: normal elements, like , , and
, and then there are empty elements, like
and . You don’t switch back and forth
between the two. For instance, if you just typed
, that’s not an empty
element – it’s an opening tag without content and
a closing tag.
building blocks
Elements that don’t have any HTML
content by design are called empty
elements. When you need to use an
empty element, like or ,
you only use an opening tag. This is a
convenient shorthand that reduces the
amount of markup in your HTML.
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