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HTML HTML Text Preformatted Text

Juan Avina
Juan Avina
12,899 Points

Regarding <pre> tag and default indentation.

Just wanted to clarify something: the text indentation in the <pre> tag is actually cause by the structured indenting in the HTML file. It will actually start at the left edge if we remove the indent from the HTML code. Example: <pre> Here is some text. It is... preformatted! </pre>

The indents removed from the "It is..." line will place that particular text at the left edge of the browser page. It's reminiscent of WYSIWYG...

Thank you for pointing this out. The wording used in the video is "You'll notice that by default, the preformatted text is slightly indented". This makes it sound like some automatic indention is inherent in the element so this is what I jotted down in my notes-- until I read your comment. Thanks!

1 Answer

Donald McLamb
Donald McLamb
2,867 Points

Hi Juan,

the <pre> tag is short for pre-formatted. If you have indentation in the text of your html then that is how it will display, if not then it will not display. If you want to utilize pre-formatted text you would want to use the <pre> tag over a <p> tag. Yes, non-formated or structurally modified elements will display from the top-left of the page