Compared to display: inline, the major difference is that display: inline-block allows to set a width and height on the element.
Also, with display: inline-block, the top and bottom margins/paddings are respected, but with display: inline they are not.
Compared to display: block, the major difference is that display: inline-block does not add a line-break after the element, so the element can sit next to other elements.
The following example shows the different behavior of display: inline, display: inline-block and display: block:
Using inline-block to Create Navigation Links
One common use for display: inline-block is to display list items horizontally instead of vertically. The following example creates horizontal navigation links:
Output:
