<display-outside>

The <display-outside> keywords specify the element's outer display type, which is essentially its role in flow layout. These keywords are used as values of the display property, and can be used for legacy purposes as a single keyword, or as defined in the Level 3 specification alongside a value from the <display-inside> keywords.

Syntax

Valid <display-outside> values:

block

The element generates a block element box, generating line breaks both before and after the element when in the normal flow.

inline

The element generates one or more inline element boxes that do not generate line breaks before or after themselves. In normal flow, the next element will be on the same line if there is space.

Note: When browsers encounter a display property with only an outer display value (e.g., display: block or display: inline), the inner value defaults to flow (e.g., display: block flow and display: inline flow). This is backwards-compatible with single-keyword syntax.

Formal syntax

<display-outside> = 
  block   |
  inline  |
  run-in

Examples

In the following example, span elements (normally displayed as inline elements) are set to display: block and so break onto new lines and expand to fill their container in the inline dimension.

HTML

html
<span>span 1</span> <span>span 2</span>

CSS

css
span {
  display: block;
  border: 1px solid rebeccapurple;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Display Module Level 3
# typedef-display-outside

Browser compatibility

css.properties.display.block

BCD tables only load in the browser

css.properties.display.inline

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also