This is a paragraph of text. The <p> tag is used to start the paragraph and the </p> tag is used to end the paragraph. Semantically, a paragraph is a chunk of related text.
This is a new paragraph, with a new set of opening and closing <p></p> tags. Notice how the browser has laid it out.
Line breaks can be used to insert a line break within some content. Unlike some HTML tags, a <br> tag does not have a matching closing tag. It also does not have the same semantic meaning as using <p></p> to break content into paragraphs.
A common use may be where content is usually presented on a new line, but should not be split into separate paragraphs. For example, poetry or sonnets...
When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least.
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
When we are designing webpages (before we have all the content for the webpage) it can be hard to come up with a lot of content to 'fill' out our paragraphs to see how the design looks. A common method to test our design with 'filler' content is to use 'Lorem Ipsum' text.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum tristique fringilla lacinia. Nulla efficitur libero velit, pharetra dapibus enim scelerisque quis. Integer ut laoreet felis. Phasellus at pellentesque felis. Proin dictum turpis quis orci imperdiet ultricies. Nullam dignissim ipsum neque, quis viverra mauris interdum ac. Aliquam gravida, eros vel placerat porttitor, lectus augue commodo velit, nec vulputate nibh libero eget magna.
Aenean eleifend eros id orci consequat, vel sodales velit commodo. Donec sagittis nibh at elit condimentum, a lobortis lectus suscipit. Nam vitae eros feugiat sapien eleifend blandit a sit amet tortor. Donec tristique non quam at blandit. Maecenas lobortis arcu id dui lacinia placerat. Nunc quam sem, euismod vel posuere sed, dignissim id enim. Aliquam leo ante, laoreet ac pretium et, lacinia et mauris. Mauris vulputate erat imperdiet ante tincidunt lacinia. Fusce sollicitudin nibh sed nisl hendrerit dignissim.
Etiam nec nulla a ex iaculis dapibus. Cras facilisis dapibus volutpat. Maecenas rutrum, tortor consequat bibendum luctus, risus quam laoreet elit, vel fermentum ligula enim eget eros. Fusce felis nunc, viverra nec imperdiet eu, luctus id orci. Cras euismod lacinia gravida. Vivamus eleifend dui vel vehicula convallis. Mauris convallis, nibh vitae posuere tristique, eros sem sodales massa, ac iaculis velit sem nec sapien. Donec aliquet, tortor ac fermentum semper, quam augue viverra ex, non porta metus ante quis mauris.
Phasellus quis sem scelerisque, volutpat ante quis, mollis mi. Nulla dapibus vel eros sed accumsan. Fusce ut enim efficitur, imperdiet ex eget, congue sem. Morbi bibendum eros felis, ac iaculis diam mattis nec. Fusce non lectus at nunc pulvinar scelerisque vel lobortis purus. Vivamus vitae finibus lorem. Praesent sem erat, aliquam vitae lorem a, pulvinar pellentesque libero. Etiam sit amet nisi fermentum, hendrerit enim id, egestas leo. Quisque in nisi in velit dignissim lacinia. Fusce bibendum nibh nec magna consectetur, at tempor lectus molestie. Sed id euismod sapien. Ut bibendum nisi a est fermentum interdum. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. In blandit, velit ut iaculis bibendum, lectus felis interdum justo, et iaculis massa massa eu ante. Proin interdum enim ut nisl faucibus, et molestie sapien congue. Pellentesque in molestie magna, eget scelerisque leo.
Nunc feugiat, nisl eget posuere dapibus, metus tellus suscipit lorem, sed scelerisque turpis odio sed nulla. Praesent nunc mauris, pretium fringilla suscipit ut, mollis ac urna. Fusce interdum, metus vel consequat commodo, nunc ante auctor odio, nec lacinia ipsum justo et odio. In vel vehicula tellus. Proin convallis massa ipsum, at volutpat neque ultrices eget. In eget purus dolor. Sed nibh elit, hendrerit non euismod aliquet, fringilla id nunc. Etiam sollicitudin sodales tellus, quis tincidunt lorem porta vulputate. Aenean ultricies massa sit amet tortor lobortis euismod. Curabitur tristique aliquet nunc, quis accumsan risus mattis vel. Praesent id metus ac massa euismod volutpat eu eget augue. Donec arcu ligula, luctus quis fermentum eu, auctor non nisl. Ut cursus purus orci, ut sodales neque finibus et. Fusce sagittis erat ac elementum ullamcorper. Phasellus scelerisque, urna ac feugiat pulvinar, elit felis pellentesque nisi, eu egestas leo dolor sit amet quam. Etiam nec dui non diam lobortis auctor.