In the HTML code below, there is a button and a div with the same class and content:
<div class="root"><!--
--><button class="outer"><div class="middle"><div class="inner">label</div></div></button><!--
--><div class="outer"><div class="middle"><div class="inner">label</div></div></div ><!--
--></div>
In this example, I have deliberately set every CSS property for the classes outer, middle, and inner.
Both the button.outer and div.outer elements in the DOM should have identical CSS settings. The styles are directly applied from the provided stylesheet.
Although they share the same CSS properties, the side-by-side button and div appear different. The label in the button sits at the bottom while in the div it is vertically centered. Both are horizontally aligned. This difference persists across browsers like Chrome and Firefox.
The discrepancy in rendering could be due to certain CSS values (e.g., auto or normal) being interpreted differently by the browser based on whether the element is a button or a div.
I aim to understand why the button and div display differently so that I can adjust the CSS effectively.
Long-term, I strive for predictability in my CSS coding, as the current inconsistencies lead to instability.
My question is:
How can we explain the visual difference between the
buttonand thediv?
1 Based on Chrome's devtool findings.
2Values primarily sourced from Chrome's devtool listings to ensure uniformity across both button and div elements.