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HTML Paragraphs

HTML documents are divided into paragraphs.

HTML Paragraphs

Paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag.

Note: Browsers automatically adds an empty line before and after paragraphs.

Don't Forget the End Tag

Most browsers will display HTML correctly even if you forget the end tag:

The example above will work in most browsers, but don't rely on it. Forgetting the end tag can produce unexpected results or errors.

Note: Future version of HTML will not allow you to skip end tags.

HTML Line Breaks

Use the <br /> tag if you want a line break (a new line) without starting a new paragraph:

The <br /> element is an empty HTML element. It has no end tag.

<br> or <br />

In XHTML, XML, and future versions of HTML, HTML elements with no end tag (closing tag) are not allowed.

Even if <br> works in all browsers, writing <br /> instead is more future proof.

HTML Output - Useful Tips

You cannot be sure how HTML will be displayed. Large or small screens, and resized windows will create different results.

With HTML, you cannot change the output by adding extra spaces or extra lines in your HTML code.

The browser will remove extra spaces and extra lines when the page is displayed. Any number of lines count as one space, and any number of spaces count as one space.

Try it yourself

(The example demonstrates some HTML formatting problems)

Examples From This Page

HTML paragraphs
This example demonstrates how HTML paragraphs are displayed in a browser.

Line breaks
This example demonstrates the use of line breaks in an HTML document.

Poem problems
This example demonstrates some problems with HTML formatting.

More Examples

More paragraphs
This example demonstrates some of the default behaviors of paragraph elements.

HTML Tag Reference

W3Schools' tag reference contains additional information about HTML elements and their attributes.

From http://www.w3schools.com (Copyright Refsnes Data)