Line breaks are necessary not just for formatting text but also for providing clarity and structure to our content. They serve as pauses, allowing readers to absorb information more effectively and preventing overwhelming blocks of text.
In HTML, a line break can be inserted using CSS through the pseudo-classes ::after
or ::before
. To achieve this, we utilize these pseudo-classes in the stylesheet, associating them with the HTML class or id, either before or after the desired location for the line-break. Additionally, the display property in CSS offers another method for adding a line break.
Let’s explore these methods with examples:
1. HTML without a line-break:
In the following code example, we'll explore HTML content where lines without breaks.
2. Using ::after
to insert a line-break:
We defined IDs (content1
and content2
for both span
elements in the HTML tab. For CSS, we used the ID of the first span
and the ::after
pseudo-class. Within this class, we defined the following CSS properties:
Set the content
property to "\a"
(the new-line character).
Set the white-space
property to pre
. This way, the browser will read every white space, in content1
, as a white-space.
3. Using ::before
to insert a line-break:
In the following code, we used the ID of the second span
and the ::before
pseudo-class. Within this class, we defined the following CSS properties:
Set the content
property to "\a"
(the new-line character).
Set the white-space
property to pre
. This way, the browser will read every white-space, in content2
, as a white-space.
4. Using the display
property
In the following example, we used the CSS display
property, setting it to block
for block-level elements will cause each element to start on a new line.
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