The SPAN element gives structure and context to any inline content in a document. Unlike some other structural elements that have very specific connotations attached to them (the P element, for instance), the author is free to give meaning to each particular SPAN element by virtue of the element's attribute settings and nested content. Each SPAN element becomes a generic container for all content within the required start and end tags.

It is convenient to use the SPAN element as a wrapper for a small inline chunk of content that is to be governed by a style sheet rule. For example, if you want to differentiate a few words in a paragraph with the equivalent of a small caps look, you would wrap the affected words with a SPAN element whose style sheet defines the requested font and text styles. Such a style sheet could be defined as an inline STYLE attribute of the SPAN element or assigned via the CLASS or ID attribute depending on the structure of the rest of the document.

If you need an arbitrary container for block-level content, use the DIV element.

HTML 4.0 defines many more attributes for the SPAN element than are implemented in Version 4 browsers. The breadth of HTML attributes indicates the potential powers of this generic element to include links to related resources and many advisory attributes about those links. The same set of attributes apply to the DIV element in the HTML 4.0 specification.

Character encoding of the content at the other end of the link.

Used with IE 4 data binding to associate a remote data source column name with the HTML content of a SPAN element. The data source column must be HTML (see DATAFORMATAS). DATASRC and DATAFORMATAS attributes must also be set for the SPAN element.

Used with IE 4 data binding, this attribute advises the browser whether the source material arriving from the data source is to be treated as plain text or as tagged HTML. A SPAN element should receive data only in HTML format.

Used with IE 4 data binding to specify the name of the remote ODBC data source (such as an Oracle or SQL Server database) to be associated with the element. Content from the data source is specified via the DATAFLD attribute.

According to the HTML 4.0 specification, the HREF attribute is meant to offer a URL to a resource that can supply "more information" about the SPAN element's content. No recommendation is provided as to whether this URL should be rendered in any way (like the HREF attribute of an A element). Perhaps a future browser could use this URL to generate a margin note or footnote in the form of a link. Several other attributes clearly intend for the HREF attribute's URL to be accessible in some way by the user.

The language code of the content at the destination of a link. Requires that the HREF attribute also be set. This attribute is primarily an advisory attribute to help a browser prepare itself for a new language set if the browser is so enabled.

Sets the intended output device for the content of the SPAN element. The MEDIA attribute looks forward to the day when browsers are able to tailor content to specific kinds of devices such as pocket computers, text-to-speech digitizers, or fuzzy television sets. The HTML 4.0 specification defines a number of constant values for anticipated devices, but the list is open-ended, allowing future browsers to tailor output to other media and devices.

Defines the relationship between the current element and the destination of the link. Also known as a forward link, not to be confused in any way with the destination document whose address is defined by the HREF attribute. The HTML 4.0 recommendation defines several link types, and it is up to the browser to determine how to employ the value. The element must include an HREF attribute for the REL attribute to be applied.

A reverse link relationship. Like the REL attribute, the REV attribute's capabilities are defined by the browser, particularly with regard to how the browser interprets and renders the various link types available in the HTML 4.0 specification. Given two documents (A and B) containing links that point to each other, the REV value of B is designed to express the same relationship between the two documents as denoted by the REL attribute in A.

If the destination document associated with the HREF attribute is to be loaded into a window or frame other than the current window or frame, you can specify where the destination document should load by assigning a window or frame name to the TARGET attribute. Target frame names must be assigned to frames and windows as identifiers. Assign names to frames via the NAME attribute of the FRAME element; assign names to new windows via the second parameter of the window.open() scripting method. If you omit this attribute, the destination document replaces the document containing the link. This attribute is applicable only when a value is assigned to the HREF attribute of the element.

If this feature is implemented in future browsers, the SPAN element will probably have only one destination document and one target (like the A element). If you want a link to change the content of multiple frames, you can use a SPAN element's onClick event handler or a javascript: pseudo-URL to fire a script that loads multiple documents. Set the location.href property of each frame to a desired URL.

An advisory about the content type of the destination document or resource. A browser might use this information to assist in preparing support for a resource requiring a multimedia player or plugin.