CSS Layout - display: inline-block

The display: inline-block Value

Compared to display: inline, the major difference is that display: inline-block allows to set a width and height on the element.

Also, with display: inline-block, the top and bottom margins/paddings are respected, but with display: inline they are not.

Compared to display: block, the major difference is that display: inline-block does not add a line-break after the element, so the element can sit next to other elements.

The following example shows the different behavior of display: inline, display: inline-block and display: block:

Example

span.a {
  display: inline; /* the default for span */
width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid blue;
  background-color: yellow;
}

span.b {
display: inline-block;
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid blue;
background-color: yellow;
}

span.c {
  display: block;
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid blue;
background-color: yellow;
}

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Using inline-block to Create Navigation Links

One common use for display: inline-block is to display list items horizontally instead of vertically. The following example creates horizontal navigation links:

Example

.nav {
background-color: yellow;
  list-style-type: none;
  text-align: center;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}

.nav li {
  display: inline-block;
font-size: 20px;
  padding: 20px;
}

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