// References / HTML BR Tag

The <br> Tag is used to force a linebreak in a paragraph, its usage might increase readability in some cases.

Readability

Since it can be hard to predict how text will be rendered in a given browser, and a large range of screen resolutions. The usage of the br tag is limited, you should only use it when you are working with fixed width layouts, or have defined a max-width.

Problems may acur if you later change the width/max-width. However a skilled webdesigner should easily be able to remove BR tags automatically using a Script, the problem is to insert them again, or to change the orginal article to account for the layout change.

Example:

<p>This is one line of Text<br />This is the next line of Text</p>

Also note, that in Xhtml br needs to be closed, however in html it dosn't. It however dosn't do any harm to close them, but it generate a warning when Validated.

It is recommended not to use br, unless you know what you are doing, and can accept the problems, which might acur if you later chose to change your layout. Obviously you would like to move down a line in some articles, its perfectly acceptable to use br, or simply start a new paragraph in such cases.