CSS Inline block

CSS inline block allows to set a width and height on the element.

Also, with display: inline-block, the top and bottom margins/paddings are respected, but with display: inline they are not.

Compared to display: block, the major difference is that display: inline-block does not add a line-break after the element, so the element can sit next to other elements.

The following example shows the different behavior of display: inline, display: inline-block and display: block:

span.a {
  display: inline; /* the default for span */
  width: 150px;
  height: 150px;
  padding: 6px;
  border: 2px solid black;
  background-color: hotpink;
}

CSS Inline block creating Navigation links

One common use for display: inline-block is to display list items horizontally instead of vertically. The following example creates horizontal navigation links:

.nav {
  background-color: sky blue;
  list-style-type: none;
  text-align: center; 
  padding: 0;
  margin: 0;
}

.nav li {
  display: inline-block;
  font-size: 30px;
  padding: 30px;
}