HTML: block and in-line elements
Some types of elements of an HTML document are "block-level" elements and some are "inline" or "text level". "block-level" elements usually begin a new line whereas "inline" elements don't.
If you want to create documents that conform to the latest standards (and are accepted by HTML checkers) you need to be aware that
- You can put "inline" elements inside "inline" elements (so for example <i>test<b>ing</b></i> is ok)
- You can't always put "block-level" elements inside other "block-level" elements. <div> can contain any other "block-level" element, but <p> can't contain any "block-level" element
- You can't put "block-level" elements (<p>, <table>, etc) inside "inline" elements (<span>, <font>, etc).
- Some "block-level" elements (<body>, etc) can only contain block-level elements
- Some "block-level" elements (<div>,<li>, etc) can contain either "block-level" or "inline" elements
Consequently you can have <li>test<p>test</p></li> but not <p>test<ul><li>test</li></ul></p>. If you ignore these restrictions an HTML-checker might produce this type of message.
-
Error
Line 135 column 6:
document type does not allow element "table" here; missing one of "object", "applet", "map", "iframe", "button", "ins", "del" start-tag.
<table>The mentioned element is not allowed to appear in the context in which you've placed it; the other mentioned elements are the only ones that are both allowed there and can contain the element mentioned. This might mean that you need a containing element, or possibly that you've forgotten to close a previous element.
One possible cause for this message is that you have attempted to put a block-level element (such as "<p>" or "<table>") inside an inline element (such as "<a>", "<span>", or "<font>").
You can redefine whether elements are "block-level" or not by changing the value of their display property, but it's rarely a good idea.
For more details see W3C's structure document or their Visual formatting model document.