In HTML, an inline element is an element that is placed inline with the text, and only takes up as much width as necessary.
Examples of inline elements include the <span> and <a> tags. Inline elements do not have a width or height property and they can not have a width or height set.
CSS display
In CSS, the display property is used to specify the type of box an HTML element should generate. The default value for most HTML elements is "block", which means that the element will generate a block-level box that takes up the full width of its parent container and creates a new line after the element. However, there are other values for the display property, including "inline", "inline-block", and "none".
Inline value
The "inline" value is used to specify that an HTML element should generate an inline-level box. An inline-level box takes up only as much width as necessary to fit its content, and does not create a new line after the element. This means that multiple inline elements can appear on the same line, one after the other. For example, the following HTML code:
This is a <span style="display: inline">inline</span> element.</p>
Will result in the following output:
This is a inline element.
Inline block
The "inline-block" value is similar to "inline", but it allows an element to have a block-level box inside an inline-level box. This means that an inline-block element can have a set width and height, and can contain block-level elements. For example, the following HTML code:
<p>This is an <span style="display: inline-block; width: 50px; height: 50px; background-color: blue">inline-block</span> element.</p>
Will result in the following output:
This is an inline-block element.
It is important to note that the "inline-block" value behaves like an inline element, but it can have a set width and height. This makes it useful for creating small, self-contained units of content that can be positioned and sized within a larger block of text.
In terms of use cases, the "inline" value is commonly used for elements like spans and anchors, which are used to add small amounts of content to a web page without affecting the flow of the surrounding text. The "inline-block" value is commonly used for elements like buttons, images, and other small units of content that need to have a set width and height, but still need to appear within the flow of the surrounding text.
In conclusion, the difference between inline and inline-block in CSS is that "inline" elements generate an inline-level box that takes up only as much width as necessary to fit its content, and does not create a new line after the element. "Inline-block" elements generate an inline-level box that can have a set width and height, and can contain block-level elements. Both values are useful for creating different types of content within a web page, and understanding the difference between them can help you to choose the appropriate value for your stylesheets.