What is <div> command

[uttamsaxena]

I am very new to html. Can any one of you explain to a layman that what is a <div> command for?

[Charles]

It's the DIV element and not the DIV command. The distinction is important. In HTML we describe how the different parts of the page relate to each other. The P element designates a paragraph, the CITE element designates a citation and the DIV element designates a generic block level division. See http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#edef-DIV.

[Hester]

You can use the div to create "areas" on your page, such as menus and text. These can then be styled separately. They can also be positioned in various ways.

The div tag has become essential when moving away from layouts that depended on tables.

You can also make them hidden.

[Charles]

There's nothing special about the DIV element and CSS; whatever you can do with a DIV you can do with any other block level element. It's just that the DIV can contain other block level elements.