INFO: The Difference Between the <DIV> and <SPAN> HTML Tags

ID: Q180153

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

This article describes the difference between the <DIV> and <SPAN> HTML tags, which are available in Internet Explorer 4.0x.


MORE INFORMATION

The <DIV> tag is a block element used for creating a container to hold and position other elements. It is commonly used for absolute positioning of content.

The <SPAN> tag is an inline element used to render text using a style sheet. It is commonly used to change the style of an element or text within a sentence or block such as <P>, <DIV> or <TABLE>.

Because the <SPAN> tag cannot create a line break, the following HTML will not behave as expected: 


   <HTML>
   <HEAD>

      <SCRIPT>
         function DoStuff()
         {
            txt.innerHTML = "<UL><LI>It worked</UL>";
         }
      </SCRIPT>

   </HEAD>
   <BODY>

      <P>
         <SPAN ID=txt>HTML<b> to be</b> replaced</SPAN>
      </P>

      <A HREF="javascript:DoStuff()">Click Me</A>

   </BODY>
   </HTML>
This use of the innerHTML property will succeed if you replace the <SPAN> tag pair with <DIV>.


REFERENCES

For more information, please see the MSDN Web Workshop:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/default.asp

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbDSupport AXSDKIEScripting 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,4.01
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbinfo

Last Reviewed: July 23, 1999