Revision 653913 of <span>

<h2 id="Summary" name="Summary">Summary</h2>
<p>The <strong>HTML <code>&lt;span&gt;</code> element</strong> is a generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not inherently represent anything. It can be used to group elements for styling purposes (using the <code>class</code> or <code>id</code> attributes), or because they share attribute values, such as <code>lang</code>. It should be used only when no other semantic element is appropriate. <code>&lt;span&gt;</code> is very much like a {{HTMLElement("div")}} element, but {{HTMLElement("div")}} is a <a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Block-level_elements">block-level element</a> whereas a <code>&lt;span&gt;</code> is an<a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Inline_elements"> inline element</a>.</p>
<ul class="htmlelt">
 <li><dfn><a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Content_categories" title="HTML/Content_categories">Content categories</a></dfn> <a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Content_categories#Flow_content" title="HTML/Content categories#Flow content">Flow content</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Content_categories#Phrasing_content" title="HTML/Content categories#Phrasing content">phrasing content</a>.</li>
 <li><dfn>Permitted content</dfn><a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Content_categories#Phrasing_content" title="HTML/Content categories#Phrasing content">Phrasing content</a></li>
 <li><dfn>Tag omission</dfn> {{no_tag_omission}}</li>
 <li><dfn>Permitted parent elements</dfn>Any element that accepts <a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Content_categories#Phrasing_content" title="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/HTML/Content_categories#Phrasing_content">phrasing content</a>, or any element that accepts <a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Content_categories#Flow_content" title="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/HTML/Content_categories#Flow_content">flow content</a>.</li>
 <li><dfn>DOM interface</dfn> {{domxref("HTMLSpanElement")}} (before HTML 5, the interface was {{domxref("HTMLElement")}}</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Attributes" name="Attributes">Attributes</h2>
<p><span style="line-height: 21px;">This element only includes the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/HTML/Global_attributes" style="line-height: 21px;" title="HTML/Global attributes">global attributes</a><span style="line-height: 21px;">.</span></p>
<h2 id="Example1" name="Example1">Example 1</h2>
<pre class="brush:html;gutter:false">
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Some text&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</pre>
<h3 id="Result1" name="Result1">Result</h3>
<p><span>Some text</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 id="Example2" name="Example2">Example 2</h2>
<pre class="brush:html;gutter:false">
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;a href="portfolio.html" target="_blank"&gt;See my portfolio&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
</pre>
<h3 id="CSS" name="CSS">CSS:</h3>
<div class="note">
 <p name="Result">li span {<br />
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; background: gold;<br />
  }</p>
</div>
<h3 id="Result2" name="Result2">Result</h3>
<ul>
 <li><span style="background:gold">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="portfolio.html" target="_blank">See my portfolio</a></span></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Specifications"><span>Specifications</span></h2>
<table class="standard-table">
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML WHATWG', 'text-level-semantics.html#the-span-element', '&lt;span&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5 W3C', 'text-level-semantics.html#the-span-element', '&lt;span&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5 W3C')}}</td>
   <td>The DOM interface is now {{domxref("HTMLSpanElement")}}.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML4.01', 'struct/global.html#edef-SPAN', '&lt;span&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML4.01')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
<h2 id="See_also" name="See_also">Browser compatibility</h2>
<p>{{ CompatibilityTable() }}</p>
<div id="compat-desktop">
 <table class="compat-table">
  <tbody>
   <tr>
    <th>Feature</th>
    <th>Chrome</th>
    <th>Firefox (Gecko)</th>
    <th>Internet Explorer</th>
    <th>Opera</th>
    <th>Safari (WebKit)</th>
   </tr>
   <tr>
    <td>Basic support</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
   </tr>
  </tbody>
 </table>
</div>
<div id="compat-mobile">
 <table class="compat-table">
  <tbody>
   <tr>
    <th>Feature</th>
    <th>Android</th>
    <th>Firefox Mobile (Gecko)</th>
    <th>IE&nbsp;Phone</th>
    <th>Opera Mobile</th>
    <th>Safari Mobile</th>
   </tr>
   <tr>
    <td>Basic support</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
   </tr>
  </tbody>
 </table>
</div>
<h2 id="See_also" name="See_also">See also</h2>
<ul>
 <li>HTML {{HTMLElement("div")}} element</li>
</ul>
<div>
 {{HTMLRef}}</div>