HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
4.1.2.1. Paragraph rendering
When encountering a new paragraph (
<p>
) tag, the browser typically in-
serts one blank line plus some extra vertical space into the display be-
fore starting the new paragraph. The browser then collects all the words
and, if present, inline images into the new paragraph, ignoring leading
and trailing spaces (not spaces between words, of course) and return
characters in the source text. The browser software then flows the res-
ulting sequence of words and images into a paragraph that fits within
the margins of its display window, automatically generating line breaks
as needed to wrap the text within the window. For example, compare
how a browser arranges the text into lines and paragraphs (
Figure 4-1
)
to how the preceding example is printed on the page. The browser may
also automatically hyphenate long words, and the paragraph may be
full-justified to stretch the line of words out toward both margins.
Figure 4-1. Browsers ignore common return characters
in the source HTML/XHTML document
The net result is that you do not have to worry about line length, word
wrap, and line breaks when composing your documents. The browser
