Question:
What does &nbsp mean?

Answer:
When browsing the web, you may occasionally run into pages that have   somwhere in their text. You may even see mutiple &nbsp's grouped toegether. Admittedly, this looks pretty odd, but there is a good explanation for it.

NBSP stands for "No-break space." In HTML, the language Web pages are created with, a space is read the same as two, ten, or one hundred spaces. So if you want to put more than one space between two words or two objects on a Web page, you need to use a no-break space.

The HTML code for a no-break space is  . So to make "this phrase" turn into "this      phrase," several &nbsp's need to be inserted between "this" and "phrase" in the HTML.

Sometimes, the HTML on a Web page is written incorrectly, or no-break spaces are not supported by a certain website, such as a public discussion board. In these cases, you will sometimes see the actual &nbsp code instead of the extra white space you should be seeing.

Category: Web
Date Entered: 2005-08-18