Hi I have about six months experience in web development.
I have the following observation,
I use <div> tags a lot, it gives me the ability to position the elements, to archive the elements,
and it seems I can use <div> tags to do everything, simply playing with its display property.
I've never had to use <ul> or <li> elements in combination, except for horizontal menu navigation, and I am not sure why you can't do it with <div> elements, but it seems to be the 'convention' for achieving a horizontal menu.
Did I miss something? Are there some properties that <li> elements have that are better or more useful than <div> elements?
Please don't restrict this question to only horizontal menu list; I want to know any scenario where you would use a <li> over something else.
Yes, you can do anything (more or less) strictly with div tags (with exceptions, like forms and inputs, and images, and what not). But that's not the point.
First, specific tags have default css applied to them. li's have bullets, for example. You can change these, but in many situations, it's just easier to use the tag that has the style you're looking for.
But the most important reason is what's called "semantic markup", which is the concept that which element you use corresponds to a semantic meaning. li means it's a list of items, so even if you have no CSS applied (such as when a screen reader reads a page aloud for blind person) then it still has meaning.
The only reason to use one tag over another is semantics. The purpose of HTML syntax is to provide meaning to the content that is being rendered.
A <ul> element is an unordered list. It means the content is a collection of items where order is unimportant.
A <div> element is simply a structural element with no semantics associated with it. You could certainly use <div> elements to create the styles typically associated with <ul> elements, but it would mean losing the inherent semantics of the original element.
If you wanted to maintain the original semantics with <div> elements, you could use the list role:
<div role="list">
<div role="listitem">...content...</div>
<div role="listitem">...content...</div>
<div role="listitem">...content...</div>
</div>
However, the WAI-ARIA roles model isn't very well supported, so you'd be better off using the basic markup of:
<ul>
<li>...content...</li>
<li>...content...</li>
<li>...content...</li>
</ul>
HTML tags should help to explain the intent of the layout. When you use div for everything, it says nothing about the content. ul/li makes it clear that you have a list of related items.
This was the motivation for the addition of many new tags in HTML5: to make the layout have more semantics, that make it more understandable to humans maintaining the code, and to screen readers. So yes, you can make a page look the way you want with only div's, but it will be harder to understand.
Now depends your needs you can use any tag for example if you want to create a custom select is not ok to use div because is more useful to use ul li, check this example: http://jsfiddle.net/RwtHn/1152/
Now if you want to determine a section in which you want to add different paragaphs, pics or other static elements is more that ok to use divs. Check this for ul li : http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/lists.html andthis for divs: http://www.w3.org/wiki/HTML/Elements/div . Is not a rule when to use what to use but it an help you in web development if you are codding well.
Cheers.
Related
Currently my code looks like this:
<div class="carouselTypo">
<p class="carouselTypo__p" data-target="#active1">A</p>
<p class="carouselTypo__p" data-target="#active2">B</p>
<p class="carouselTypo__p" data-target="#active3">C</p>
</div>
The same code could also be written like this:
<ul class="carouselTypo">
<li class="carouselTypo__p" data-target="#active1">A</li>
<li class="carouselTypo__p" data-target="#active2">B</li>
<li class="carouselTypo__p" data-target="#active3">C</li>
</ul>
Now I'm wondering, which one is better or correct? Or does it not matter?
Actually if you remove the default css I don't think it does matter in this case.
but you should always prefer to use the element that represents your elements prototype,
because sometimes the browser has different behavior for different elements.
for example lets take the the anchor tag.
you can make it in tow ways:
create a button which opens the href
create an anchor tag with href
if you remove the default css the look the same but they don't,
because the browser has other way to deal with anchor tag, for example with anchor tag if you hover the anchor you will see in the bottom the url address:, or you will be able to shift-click which opens the link in a new tab.
<button onclick="document.location.href = 'https://stackoverflow.com';">
hover / shift-click doesn't work
</button>
hover / shift-click works
maybe you can make the shift-click yourself for example, but there are more different can't be done by you, for example accessibility service / extensions will probably react different with other tags.
So if you are making a list of something I recommend you to use the ul Although I don't see any different in non style behavior. (but again, for example maybe there is an extension which collects lists data and it won't work on the div method.)
The functional advantage is that divs mean little on their own, whereas ul lis explicitly mean "this is an un/ordered list of items."
The term "semantics" refers to the way that you use the inherent meaning of existing structures to create explicit meaning. HTML is comprised of tags that mean certain things by themselves. And there are established rules/guidelines/ways to use them so that your published HTML document conveys what you want it to mean.
If you list something in your document, then add an ordered list (UL) or an unordered list (OL). On the other hand, the page division (DIV) element is used to create a specific & separate piece of content.
The div element "divides." When you look at a page, there are specific parts like a content body, the footer, a header, navigation, menus, forms, etc. And you can use div tags to create these divisions. Often, the page parts correspond with a visual layout, so using explicit page divisions (DIVs) to cut up your layout in CSS is a natural fit. This way the div tags become structural.
If you misuse or overuse the div tag, it can create unintended meaning & code bloat.
To confuse matters: Google uses h3 and div to "divide" their listed search results. ul > li > h3 + div
So when you turn off all styles (Shift+Cmd/Crtl+S in Firefox w/ WebDeveloper toolbar), the divs should go away, and stack naturally. Your naked HTML should still render a nice page with a clear hierarchy: top to bottom, most important content first, and lists with bullets & numbers for listed items. And it's a good idea to add a link near the top (for non-visual users) that allows you to skip down to main content, important forms, or the main headings (like a table of contents).
Finally, keep in mind that you are building a document. Without all the visual effects, it should still be a cogent document.
It will affect your code readability. If you use ul and li, your code is more readable.
TL;DR Is it a bad practice to change default display property in my CSS?
Issue
Recently, in our project we had to position 2 header tags so they would look like one. They had the same font size and similar styling so the only issue was how to place one next to another. We had 2 different ideas on that and it le do a discussion on whether or not is a good practice to change default display property
So, our very basic code
<div class="container">
<h1>Header:</h1>
<h2>my header</h2>
</div>
The outcome we would like to have:
Header: my header
Note:
The code needs to consists of 2 different headings because on mobile version we want to display them in in separate lines (so leaving default display: block).
Approach #1: Use display: inline
This is pretty stright forward. Block elements became inline so they are positioned in the same line. The disadvantage of this approach is that default display properties of both h1 and h2 were changed.
Approach #2: Use float
H1 can be positioned on the left using float: left property. This approach leaves the default display property intact, but will requires some hacks if the .container is not long enough to fit both headers in single line.
The question
It all leads to a simple question: Is it a bad practice to change the default display property of HTML elements? Is it breaking the standard and should be avoided if possible? Or is it our bread and butter and it does not really matter, as long as code is semantically correct (so headers are placed in h1, articles are placed in article etc...)
Answering your main question:
tl;dr is it a bad practice to change default display property in my CSS?
NO
WHY?
A: Because it is all about semantics
Elements, attributes, and attribute values in HTML are defined (by
this specification) to have certain meanings (semantics). For example,
the ol element represents an ordered list, and the lang attribute
represents the language of the content.
These definitions allow HTML processors, such as Web browsers or
search engines, to present and use documents and applications in a
wide variety of contexts that the author might not have considered.
So, in your case if you really need to have 2 headings semantically then you can change their styles, including the display property.
However If you don't need to have 2 headings semantically, but only for purely cosmetics/design (responsive code), then you are doing it incorrectly.
Look at this example:
<h1>Welcome to my page</h1>
<p>I like cars and lorries and have a big Jeep!</p>
<h2>Where I live</h2>
<p>I live in a small hut on a mountain!</p>
Because HTML conveys meaning, rather than presentation, the same page
can also be used by a small browser on a mobile phone, without any
change to the page. Instead of headings being in large letters as on
the desktop, for example, the browser on the mobile phone might use
the same size text for the whole the page, but with the headings in
bold.
This example has focused on headings, but the same principle applies
to all of the semantics in HTML.
** Emphasis in the quote above is mine **
P.S - Remember that headings h1–h6 must not be used to markup subheadings (or subtitles), unless they are supposed to be the heading for a new section or subsection.
With all this above in mind, here is a few (good) approaches:
If you're doing the two headings purely for design then:
add a span inside of the h1, using a media query either using mobile first approach (min-width) or the non-mobile approach (max-width).
PROs - easily manageable through CSS, changing only properties.
CONs - adding extra HTML markup, using media queries as well.
h1 {
/* demo only */
background: red;
margin:0
}
#media (max-width: 640px) {
span {
display: block
}
}
<div class="container">
<h1>Header:<span> my header</span></h1>
</div>
If you need to use the two headings semantically then:
use flexbox layout.
PROs - no need to add extra HTML markup or the use of media queries, being the most flexible currently in CSS (basically the cons from option above mentioned).
CONs - IE10 and below has partial or none support, Can I use flexbox ? (fallback for IE10 and below would be CSS TABLES)
.container {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
align-items: center;
/*demo only*/
background: red;
}
h1,
h2 {
/*demo only*/
margin: 0;
}
h2 {
/*640px will be flex-basis value - can be changed as prefered */
flex: 0 640px;
}
<div class="container">
<h1>Header:</h1>
<h2>my header</h2>
</div>
Sources:
W3C specs - 3.2.1 Semantics
W3C specs - 4.12.1 Subheadings, subtitles, alternative titles and taglines
tl;dr is it a bad practice to change default display property in my CSS?
No. As expressed by W3C themselves; HTML conveys meaning, not presentation.
As an HTML author, it's your job to structure a page so that every section of the page carries the intended semantics as described by the documentation, so that software (browsers, screen readers, robots...) can correctly interpret your content.
As a CSS author, it's your job to alter the default styling of correct markup to present it the way you want to. This includes changing the default display properties just as much as changing the default color.
Any software can, however, decide that certain usage of CSS properties changes the way they interpret your page. For instance, a search engine could decide that text that has the same color as their parent's background should carry no weight for their ranking system.
In regards to subheadings, it's considered incorrect to markup a subheading with an <hX> element. What you should do is to decide on one <hX> element, wrap it in a <header> and wrap subheading-type text in <p>, <span> or similar.
The following is an example of proper subheadings, taken from the W3C documentation:
<header>
<h1>HTML 5.1 Nightly</h1>
<p>A vocabulary and associated APIs for HTML and XHTML</p>
<p>Editor's Draft 9 May 2013</p>
</header>
Note that there's a discrepancy between the W3C specification and the WHATWG specification where the latter uses the <hgroup> element for this specific purpose, while the former has deprecated it. I personally go with W3C's example, but most software will still understand hgroup, likely for many, many years to come, if you prefer the WHATWG approach. In fact, some argue that WHATWG should be followed over W3C when the specs differ.
In your particular example, however, I'm not sure why you chose to split the <h1> into two elements in the first place. If what you marked up as an <h1> is actually supposed to be a generic "label" for the heading, then it should probably be considered a subheading instead. If you need to split it for styling purposes, wrap the two parts of text in <span> as such:
<h1>
<span>Header:</span>
<span>my header</span>
</h1>
tl;dr is it a bad practice to change default display property in my CSS?
Its a good practice but choose carefully when to use it because it can cause some critical structure mistakes.
Why is it a good practice
The display property is open for changes. It makes HTML simple and generic. HTML elements come with a default display value that match the general behavior - what you would usually want. But they dont have to be kept and manipulated around to imitate another display property. Think about <div> for example. Obviously most of the times you want it to have display: block;, but display: flex; is much more suitable once in a while.
Lets look at a really common example of lists. <li> comes with the display property of list-item that breaks the lines for every new item.
<ul>
<li>Item 1</li>
<li>Item 2</li>
<li>Item 3</li>
</ul>
But horizontal lists are very common too. So why there is no special element for horizontal list items? Writing a special element for every common display behavior adds complexity. Instead, the convention, as also suggested by W3C is to set the <li> display property to inline.
ul li {
display:inline;
}
<ul>
<li>Item 1</li>
<li>Item 2</li>
<li>Item 3</li>
</ul>
display: inline-block; as an alternative to float
float has been used massively in page layout for many years. The problem is that it wasnt created for this task and was originally designed to wrap text around elements. A well-known float issue is that non floated elements dont recognize floated children because they are being removed from the normal flow of the document. You also cannot centrally float an element. you are limited to left or right floats only.
display is much more suitable for layout many times. display: inline-block; tells browsers to place that element inline, but to treat it as though it were a block level element. This means that we can use inline-block instead of floats to have a series of elements side by side. It is more intuitive and eliminates floats <div class="clearfix"></div> which is an additional non semantic element in your HTML.
Floats are useful when there is a need to float an element so that other page content flows around it. But there is no need to always press them into the service of a complicated layout.
Things to avoid when changing display
When you change the display property remember:
Setting the display property of an element only changes how the element is displayed, NOT what kind of element it is.
<span> test case:
In HTML early versions <span> is considered an inline-level element and <div> is block-level. Inline-level elements cannot have block-level elements inside them. Giving the <span> a display:block; doesn't change his category. It is still an inline-level element, and still cannot have <div> inside.
HTML5 introduced content models. Each HTML element has a content model: a description of the element's expected contents. An HTML element must have contents that match the requirements described in the element's content model. <span> can contain only phrasing content. It means that still you cannot nest a <div> (flow content) inside a <span>. Giving <span> a display:block; still doesn't change it.
Avoid:
span {
display:block;
}
<span>
<div>
Still Illegal!
</div>
<span>
In conclusion, changing the default display property is certainly our bread and butter. Remember that it only changes how the element is displayed, NOT what kind of element it is and use it correctly.
Now about the original two heading issue:
With respect to the comments:
Let's assume for the sake of the question, that we need to have two
headings. Or let's forget about the headings for the time being. - by the author
And also to the comment:
This question is not about resetting the display value globally. Using
selectors to target only the specific elements is implied. The
question is what we should do with these elements once selected. - by the person who set the bounty
Two headings side by side not only to handle mobile layout changes, can be done in many ways. The original example is simple and correct so its actually a good way.
h1, h2 {
display: inline;
}
<div class="container">
<h1>Header:</h1>
<h2>my header</h2>
</div>
It follows HTML rules and doesnt require any additional hacks.
Sure changing the default behaviour is redundant and even can hit performance. As a subjective solution, would recommend to use flex (but i'm not sure about performance of it, altho you can google it), it's broadly supported, and doesn't change any element css properties, it's just a layout thing, check this out
.container {
display: flex;
justify-content: flex-start;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: baseline;
}
.container.mobile {
flex-direction: row;
}
web
<div class="container">
<h1>Header:</h1>
<h2>my header</h2>
</div>
<hr />
mobile
<div class="container mobile">
<h1>Header:</h1>
<h2>my header</h2>
</div>
Notice that h1 styles stay the same
Changing default css properties is not a good idea, and should be avoided to prevent unwanted shortcomings in your markup. Instead, you should give "id" or better "class" to all html elements you want to customize and do the styling for those.
Besides, using css like "h1", "div" etc. is the slowest way as the engine try to find all those elements in the page.
In your example, it doesnt matter to use display or float as long as you give your h1 elements a css class.
Also, using correct html elements for better semantics can be useful for things such as SEO etc.
best Practice is to group the two heading in hgroup and change the display property for mobile and other views using #media query.
<hgroup class="headingContainer">
<h1>Main title</h1>
<h2>Secondary title</h2>
</hgroup>
The HTML Element (HTML Headings Group Element) represents the
heading of a section. It defines a single title that participates in
the outline of the document as the heading of the implicit or explicit
section that it belongs to.
As hgroup defines a single title for a section ,therefore changing display property within hgroup is not bed practice.
UPDATE
It seems that I might've obscured the Plunker, since Anthony Rutledge obviously failed to see (or neglected to review) it. I have provided a screen shot with a few tips on how to use the Plunker.
PLUNKER - Embed
PLUNKER - iNFO
PLUNKER - Preview
Q & A
It all leads to a simple question: Is it a bad practice to change the default display property of HTML elements?
No, not at all. Matter of fact it's a very common practice of web developers (myself included), to alter not only properties of an element, but also attributes, and it's contents to name a few.
Is it breaking the standard and should be avoided if possible?
No, but perhaps the way one goes about doing it may break the code itself which IMO is a greater concern than standards. Standards of course plays an important role but not an essential one. If that were the case, then web browsers should comply under one common set of standards (I'm talking to you IE :P). Off the top of my head, here's things that should be avoided:
Using the table element for a layout
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img></td>
<td><input type="button"/></td>
</tr>
...
Using inline styles
<div style="display: inline-block"></div>
Using inline event handlers
<div onclick='makeASandwich();'></div>
Or is it our bread and butter and it does not really matter, as long as code is semantically correct (so headers are placed in h1, articles are placed in article etc...)
Changing an element's display property is a very small yet fundamentally essential aspect of web developing. So yes I suppose it can be considered bread and butter, which would make semantics the parsley that's used as garnish and never eaten. Semantics is subjective, a way of thinking, it is not a standard. I believe a novice should be aware of it's importance (or at least how it's important to others), but should not be pontificating between an <article> and a <section> being semantically better than using a <main> and an <aside>. In due time, semantics will just feel right.
Approach #1: Use display: inline
I have never found a good reason to use display: inline because display: inline-block is a far better choice.
Approach #2: Use float
Floats are fragile antiques. Just like handling Grandma's bone china dinner plates, you must take certain precautions if you plan on using them. Be mindful of how to clear floats and don't throw them in the dishwasher.
Basically, if given only these 2 options, Approach #1 is a better choice, especially if using inline-block. I'd stay away from floats, they are counter-intuitive and break easily. I recall only using them once because a client wanted text wrapping around an image.
CSS & CSS/JS
Provided is a Snippet comprising of 3 demos:
Pure CSS solution utilizing display: flex.
Pure CSS solution utilizing display: table-row/table-cell.
CSS and minimal JavaScript solution utilizing display: inline-block and the classList API
Each of these demos are identical on the surface:
HTML
<section id="demo1" class="area">
<!--==Pure CSS Demo #1==-->
<!--======Flexbox=======-->
<header class="titles">
<h1>Demo 1 - </h1>
<h2>display: flex</h2>
</header>
</section>
This is the original markup with the following changes:
div.container is now header.titles
h1 text is: "Demo #n"
h2 text is: "prop:value"
section#demo#n.area is wrapped around everything.
This is a good example of semantics: Everything has meaning
You'll notice at the bottom of the viewport, are buttons. Each button corresponds to a demo.
Details on how each demo works as well as pros and cons are in the following files located in the leftside menu of the Plunker (see screenshot):
demo1.md flexbox
demo2.md disply: table
demo3.md classList
PLUNKER
These notes are not for the purpose of informing the OP of anything relevant to the question. Rather they are observations that I would like to address later on.
Further Notes
Demo 1 and demo 2 are powered by the pseudo-class :target. Clicking either one of them will trigger the click event It resembles an event because it's invoked by a click, but there's no way of controlling, or knowing the capture or bubbling phase if it actually exists. Upon further clicking of the first and second button, it will exhibit odd behavior such as: toggling of the other button then eventually becoming non-functional. I suspect the shortcomings of :target is that CSS handles events in a completely different way with little or no interaction with the user.
You should use:
$('element').css('display','');
That will set display to whatever is the default for element according to the current CSS cascade.
For example:
<span></span>
$('span').css('display','none');
$('span').css('display','');
will result in a span with display: inline.
But:
span { display: block }
<span></span>
$('span').css('display','none');
$('span').css('display','');
You can use flex box to arrange elements also, like this
<div class="container" style="display: flex;">
<h1>Header:</h1>
<h2>my header</h2>
</div>
Try to read this tutorial about flex, it is really great and easy to use
https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/a-guide-to-flexbox/
I think very often tabs are implemented as <ul> and a series of <li> inside. Is there advantage of that over
just using <div> with a few <div>s inside?
Usually with <ul> as tabs, the padding-left of it needs to be reset to 0, and list-style needs to be set to none, while <div> doesn't have this issue.
Short and clear answer: Why should I use 'li' instead of 'div'?
Excerpt:
"For semantic correctness. HTML has the ability to express lists of things, and it helps the Google robot, screen readers, and all manner of users who don't care solely about the presentation of the site understand your content better."
"For the visually impaired, it can be helpful to distinguish what's in a list and what's not. Say if you have a list of ingredients in a recipe for example, and the user wants to skip to the instructions or just read the list, you need a list."
Don't forget to visit the link to learn more.
Looks better when CSS isn’t applied, and is (I believe) easier to interact with in screen-readers.
In terms of adding/changing the code, it is more readable and makes more sense. Tabs/navigation naturally seem like a list where the items are associated with each other.
Once implemented via CSS, it is extremely easy to add/modify when the time comes to change your navigation/tabs.
I'm new to HTML. When I started reading documentation about lists, I've noticed that everywhere an <ul>, <li> structure is used, even for creating very simple lists.
But for me it's most comfortable to use only <a> elements with CSS:
display: block;
/* and/or */
float: left;
So, why use <ul>, <li> instead of just <a>?
Thanks a lot.
Because structurally they're the most appropriate elements for that purpose. Also helps screen reader users in terms of properly dictating the elements of a page.
Remember that HTML is for markup/content ( what IS this text? a paragraph? wrap it in a p tag ), CSS is for styling, JS is for behaviour.
You can have thousands of anchors on your web page, but what if you want to style anchors nested within listed items differently from other anchors?
<ul>
<li>blah</li>
</ul>
sfl
If you had done things properly, your css would be trivial to implement
a { }
ul li a { }
Otherwise you'd have to throw classes around anchors and it would be messy and unstructural.
In regards to the SEO - I believe that in the past semantically marked up code didn't have much bearing but nowadays with specs like RDF, HTML 5 elements the web is getting more and more semantic, so it's only beneficial to be as semantic as you can be.
In 2010, Google specified three forms
of structured metadata that their
systems will use to find structured
semantic content within webpages. Such
information, when related to reviews,
people profiles, business listings,
and events will be used by Google to
enhance the 'snippet', or short piece
of quoted text that is shown when the
page appears in search listings.
Google specifies that that data may be
given using microdata, microformats or
RDFa.[13] Microdata is specified
inside itemtype and itemprop
attributes added to existing HTML
elements; microformat keywords are
added inside class attributes as
discussed above; and RDFa relies on
rel, typeof and property attributes
added to existing elements.[14]
Because your markup is supposed to be semantic rather than just for display purposes.
Anyone, or anything, that reads your document can immediately tell that a section marked-up with <ul><li>...</li></ul> tags is a list.
CSS doesn't describe what something is, only how it should be rendered. Ideally, you should mark-up your document to describe what each part is, and then use CSS to render those parts appropriately.
Because UL, LI and OL are the HTML elements created with the specific purpose of being lists. By using the proper markup you are adding more information to your content, any automated tool that sees your code will know that those are lists and be able to act accordingly.
If you want links inside a list item, you can put an A element nested inside the LI:
<ul>
<li>Example</li>
</ul>
For those not convinced enough by semantics, I think its fair to also mention that using a list tag can be extended nicely to include second level navigation. Then add in some css (and some javascript for the sake of IE) and bosh... you have superfish menus.
I see the <p> tag used a lot in the code of others but have never used it in my own work.
I'm wondering what advantage this gives over using a <div> tag?
Are there any benefits I could get
from incorporating the <p> tag
into my pages?
Is there any disadvantage in only
using <div> tags without <p>?
DIV indicates a separate section on a page, which is not semantically connected to the others. With P tags you indicate that this piece of text is broken into paragraphs but it still stays a single entity.
ADDED: With "semantics" people usually refer to the possibility to extract information from HTML as to what various elements of a page represent and how they are related to each other, as opposed to treating the whole HTML as just a markup to be rendered. For example, when you do menus it is recommended that you use ULs (unordered list) for that purpose, because it will be possible to learn from the markup that all LIs (list items) contained within a particular list probably mean choice options of the same level. I know it is helpful for screen readers for impaired people that you try to make your markup as semantic-rich as possible.
If you're not concerned with this, then it is virtually no difference for the rendered result whether you use DIVs or Ps. You can style both with CSS to achieve the same look and feel.
Semantic HTML is still not "the absolute good" to be strived for. For many people semantics does not add any value as they wish just that their pages are rendered correctly. That's why the ever-lasting discussion on whether to use tables for markup (and add semantics where it does not belong) or stick to CSS is not going to end any soon.
p means 'paragraph', div means 'division'. That's as complicated as it gets. It's a way of telling search-engines, scrapers, tools, etc that this is a paragraph of text.
div is undesirable when you're actually marking up a 'paragraph' of text.
Both tags have a different purpose.
p indicates a paragraph, usually for
organising content (text and
images,mostly)
div on the other hand is a
rectangular space on the canvas,
usually for layout purposes.
Example: You would put your navigation panel in a div, making it easy to move it from the left to the right of the page, or switching to a 3 column layout. The different sections in your navigation (first the general site navigation, next specific hotlinks to the most recent blog post or whatever) could be seperated by putting them in defferent paragraphs.
(I know, bad example, because the navigation is better represented by unordered lists, but what the hey).
In direct answer to your question, they give you the advantage of differentiating between organising your layout and organising your content, in a way that becomes clear in the HTML source.
If you are tagging content so you can lay it out with CSS, you probably want <div>; <p> should be used to indicate a paragraph of text and that's it.
Beyond just the semantics of it (which are important), you will also want to consider validation problems. According to the HTML4 spec, you are not allowed to nest other block-level elements (<div>, <ul>, other <p>, etc) inside a <p> without invalidating your HTML.
I've seen a number of instances where parsers will choose to prematurely close the <p> to allow the other nested block element to begin.
Are there any benefits I could get
from incorporating the tag into my
pages?
Yes, provided that you use it correctly -- because the use of semantic HTML is always a benefit.
There are a range of reasons why this is so, but the primary one for people who need a quick explanation is SEO. Search engines will understand your page better if you use semantic HTML.
p tags are for paragraphs. p tags often contain additional CSS styling regarding the textual content that goes into them, and this styling can be defined in various places in the css documentation. for example, a p usually has a bit of extra space below it. if you try laying something out with p tags, you'll end up with uneven padding.
It is better to use divs if you want to have more control over the content in your page from a programmatic perspective. sticking to divs for all layout concerns will also allow you to use p tags exclusively for paragraphs.