Please stop using <br /> for presentation spacing!

If you are a developer in the modern Web development and use <br /> to space out your display then it is time to reshape your HTML5 / CSS3 skills.

Let’s start by looking at the purpose of the <br /> defined by W3C Opens in a new window:

  • <br /> element represents a line break.
  • <br /> elements must be used only for line breaks that are actually part of the content, as in poems or addresses.
  • <br /> elements must not be used for separating thematic groups in a paragraph.

It is unbelievable how much abuse we still see on the Web. It’s a line break only part of a content paragraph. Remember this!

There are various alternatives such as using margins. If the semantic looks more like a definition or list order, please use accordingly
otherwise you are not writing HTML5 code.