HTML Beautifier Guide: Reading Indentation
Learn how indentation reveals nesting, and why short text elements stay on one line.
What is the HTML Beautifier?
This tool splits markup into tags and text, then indents each nesting level by two spaces. A matching open and close pair with only text between them stays on one line, which keeps short elements readable. Void elements such as br, hr, img, input, meta and link are treated as single lines that do not open a new level. It is a layout helper for reasonably well-formed markup, not a full HTML parser, so badly broken markup may indent oddly.
How to use it
- Paste your HTML into the box.
- Click Beautify HTML.
- Read the indented structure and fix any nesting that looks wrong.
Worked example
For the sample, the div opens at the top level, the paragraph stays on one line inside it, and the list items are indented one level deeper under ul, with the closing tags aligned to their openers.
Why keep a paragraph on one line instead of three?
Because splitting every short element across three lines makes simple markup much longer to scan, while nesting still shows through the indent.
Frequently asked questions
What about void elements like br and img?
They are printed on one line and do not increase the indent level, because they have no closing tag.
Will it fix broken HTML?
No. It only re-indents what you give it; unclosed or mismatched tags may still indent in a misleading way.