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Paragraphs and line breaks

Unlike other document markup systems, HTML ignores empty lines embedded in the document source and runs the text together into a single paragraph on the screen. Paragraph breaks must be explicitly marked with the <P> tag. The </P> end tag can be omitted, but you may find that these are automatically inserted by HTML authoring tools.

The <P> tag usually generates extra vertical space between paragraphs. If you want to start a new line without extra vertical space, use the <BR> tag. This is an empty element, which means it does not have an end tag. The <BR> tag is often used within the ADDRESS element (discussed later in this chapter) to separate lines of an address. The <HR> tag, which is also an empty element, creates a horizontal dividing line across the screen. It is often used to separate blocks of information or to visually delineate fill-out forms.

Spinning the Web by Andrew Ford
© 1995 International Thomson Publishing
© 2002 Andrew Ford and Ford & Mason Ltd
Note: this HTML document was generated in December 1994 directly from the LaTeX source files using LaTeX2HTML. It was formatted into our standard page layout using the Template Toolkit. The document is mainly of historical interest as obviously many of the sites mentioned have long since disappeared.