What causes the variance in default word-wrap and overflow behavior between inline and inline-block elements?

Have you ever wondered why inline elements tend to overflow while inline-block elements wrap to the next line? It's confusing because inline-block is essentially just like inline with editable height and width properties, yet their wrapping behavior differs. Is there any reliable source where I can find more information on this peculiar behavior? I've searched for documentation but couldn't find anything that explains it.

Interestingly, when I change the word-wrap behavior to "break-word" for the containing div, both types of elements behave identically.

For a visual example, check out these links: https://i.sstatic.net/GKALh.png

https://codesandbox.io/s/inline-vs-inline-block-word-break-overflow-597wok?fontsize=14&hidenavigation=1&theme=dark

export default function App() {
  const arr = new Array(50).fill("inline");
  const arr2 = new Array(50).fill("inline-block");
  return (
    <div className="App">
      {arr.map((text) => (
        <div className="inline-div">{text}</div>
      ))}
      {arr2.map((text) => (
        <div className="inline-block-div">{text}</div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}
.inline-div {
  display: inline;
  color: red;
}

.inline-block-div {
  display: inline-block;
  color: blue;
}

.App {
  background-color: lightblue;
}

Answer №1

In terms of styling, the differences between inline and inline-block are significant. An important distinction is that while inline-block elements create an atomic box, the box generated by an inline element is not atomic. According to the CSS Display Level 3 specification:

atomic-inline: An inline-level box that is replaced (such as an image) or that establishes a new formatting context (such as an inline-block or inline-table) and cannot split across lines (as inline boxes and ruby containers can).

The concept of soft wrap opportunities is crucial here. This area is intricate with various rules for different languages, but only one rule is relevant to the question at hand:

For compatibility purposes, there is a soft wrap opportunity before and after each replaced element or other atomic inline, even when adjacent to a character that would usually prevent it, such as U+00A0 NO-BREAK SPACE.

Similar questions

If you have not found the answer to your question or you are interested in this topic, then look at other similar questions below or use the search

The jQuery UI accordion fails to function properly after refreshing the data

I am facing an issue with my HTML page where data is loaded dynamically into accordions. The accordion functionality is implemented inside a function, which is called at regular intervals to refresh the data. Initially, the accordion displays correctly, bu ...

Tips on aligning a div in the middle

#container { width: 960px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; height: auto; } #large_box { text-align: center; width: 960px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; height: auto; } #searchbcid { position: absolute; left: 400px; margin-left: 50px; top: ...

html5 aside along with navigation

Check out this snippet of my html code: <!doctype html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>European Networking</title> <link href="css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="css/fonts ...

What impact does utilizing CSS 3D Transforms have on search engine optimization (SEO)?

Google emphasizes the importance of not hiding content, as it may not be counted by search engines. However, Google Cache has shown some discrepancies in understanding certain elements correctly. It's possible that what Google perceives as hidden migh ...

``I am experiencing difficulties with utilizing a personalized color scheme in React JS with Material

I'm currently working on customizing the color palette for my project, but I am only able to modify the main attribute and not others. My development environment is JavaScript with MUI, not Typescript. import './App.css'; import {BrowserRout ...

Tips for retrieving data from a database with just one key press

There is a text field that triggers a JavaScript function when a key is pressed. <input type="text" class="text" id="txt_sh_vid" onKeyPress="vhc_record()" maxlength="4"> The function takes the input from the text field and searches for a result in t ...

Overflowing CSS grid issue

I've been working on this for a couple of hours, but I haven't been able to get it right. I want to add labels in a grid layout with a maximum of 3 columns. If the items don't fit, they should wrap to the next row. It would be great if the i ...

Unable to modify the text color within a moving button

Working on a school project and implemented an animated button style from w3 schools. However, I'm struggling to change the text color within the button. Being new to HTML, I would greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions on what might be going ...

Using Aurelia's one-way binding technique with a checkbox

I am searching for a method to bind a checkbox in Aurelia one-way, while still allowing the user to click on the checkbox. Imagine a view similar to the one below that shows one selectable item from a list: <template> <div click.trigger="sel ...

Activate Materialize Css Tooltip with a click to reveal its content

How can I make the tooltip appear when clicked? Here is my code. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. <a href="javascript:;" class="tooltipped info_circle" data-position="bottom" data-delay="50" data-tooltip="Numbers should MUST be 5 digits. N ...

I'm perplexed as to why my attempts to override a specific Bootstrap style with my own style sheet are proving unsuccessful

Currently, I am in the process of developing a basic website with the assistance of bootstrap and encountered an issue while trying to customize the appearance of an alert box. In my code structure, I have linked the Bootstrap CSS followed by the Bootstra ...

How to resolve HTML errors when uploading images in Dropzone and remove them from display

Removing HTML Error Display After Uploading Image in Dropzone I am looking for a solution to remove the HTML data displayed in the popup after uploading an image or other document using Dropzone. https://i.sstatic.net/kl0BM.png <form action="/ ...

Having trouble with CSS text-align right not functioning properly? Here's how you can fix it

<div style="text-align: left;width: 21cm;"> <h4 style="text-align: center;font-weight: bold;font-size: 20px;margin: 0">Tax Invoice(Center) <span style="text-align: right;"> For Customer(Right)</span></h4> </div> I n ...

ion-grid featuring alternate columns

As someone who is not very familiar with Angular, I am trying to create a grid layout like the one shown here: https://i.stack.imgur.com/nBavk.png The desired layout includes alternating rows with one image followed by two images. My current attempt at a ...

Can cookies operate on a local server?

Similar Question: Cookies on localhost with explicit domain Here is the code snippet that I am using after the user has logged in: setcookie("user",$entered_username, time()+(60*60*5)); setcookie("password",$entered_password, time()+(60*60*5)); ...

TailwindCSS in React.Js does not seem to accept randomly generated color codes

Check out my Messages component below: import randomColor from "random-color"; import React from "react"; import "../Chat.css"; function DisplayMessage({ username, message }) { const changeTextColor = randomColor(0.99, 0.99 ...

What is the method for HTML inline handlers to retrieve the global window object and the variables contained within it?

During my coding test, I encountered an interesting scenario. I had a function called write and used a button with an inline onclick handler to trigger the write() function. function write(text) { alert(text) } <button onclick='write("Some tex ...

Align the date input field to the center for better visual appeal

I am facing a challenge in centering the date in an input, not the entire input element inside a div. When I attempt to center it, the date gets positioned within a portion of the input due to a resizable right-hand side panel for selecting a date from a c ...

Choosing between Ajax and Websockets for sending small amounts of dataOR

I am currently developing a chat website that utilizes Websockets (Socket.io) to facilitate communication between users and the server. While Websockets are essential for sending and receiving messages in real-time, I am facing a challenge when it comes to ...

Modify the image inside a div when hovering

How can I create a product card that displays thumbnails of images when hovered over, and changes the main image to the thumbnail image? My current challenge is getting this functionality to work individually for each card on an e-commerce site. Currently, ...