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HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition
book

HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition

by Chuck Musciano, Bill Kennedy
October 2006
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
680 pages
21h 44m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition

Tagless Styles: The <span> Tag

Up to now, we have used cascading stylesheets to change the appearance of content within a designated tag. In some cases, however, you may want to alter the appearance of only a portion of a tag's contents—usually text. Designate these special segments with the <span> tag.

The <span> tag simply delimits a portion of content (constrained by normal tag-nesting rules, of course). Browsers treat the <span> tag as another physical or content-based style tag—the only difference is that the default meaning of the <span> tag is to leave the text alone.

The <span> tag became part of HTML so that you could apply style, display, and event management to an arbitrary section of document content. Define a style for the <span> tag as you would any other HTML or XHTML tag:

span {color: purple}
span.bigger {font-size: larger}

and use it like any other HTML or XHTML tag:

Quat harvest projections are <span class=bigger>bigger than ever</span>!

Similarly, apply an inline style to the <span> tag to modify the appearance of its contents:

Quat harvest projections are <span style="font-size: larger">bigger than ever</span>!

Like any other physical or content-based style tag, <span> tags ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596527322Errata Page