In the context of web development, a <span> is an HTML element used to apply styles or manipulate text or content within a larger block element. It is an inline element and does not have any semantic meaning on its own. For example, you can use <span> to highlight a specific word or phrase within a paragraph, or to format individual characters or words with CSS properties like color, font-weight, or text-decoration.

Here's an example of how <span> can be used:

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<p>This is <span style="color: blue;">blue</span> text.</p>

In this example, the word "blue" will be displayed in blue color within the paragraph.

In HTML, both div and section are used to group related content, however they serve slightly different purposes.

div is a generic HTML element that does not convey any meaning other than grouping elements together. It's commonly used to divide content into sections or to apply styles via CSS.

section on the other hand, is a semantic element that conveys the meaning that the enclosed content belongs together as a distinct section of a document or webpage. It's recommended to use section when you want to denote a section of the webpage that can stand on its own. For example, it could be used to divide a webpage into chapters, articles, or parts that could be used as source material for another document.

Here's an example in HTML:

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<section>
  <h2>Section Title</h2>
  <p>This is the content of the section.</p>
</section>

<div>
  <h2>Div Title</h2>
  <p>This is the content of the div.</p>
</div>

In this example, the section element is being used to indicate that the enclosed content is a standalone section of the webpage, while the div element is simply grouping content together without any particular meaning.

In HTML, both div and section are HTML elements that are used for grouping and organizing content on a web page. However, there is a subtle difference between the two.

div is a generic container element that does not carry any semantic meaning. It is mostly used for grouping related elements together and applying styling to them via CSS.

section, on the other hand, is a semantic element that represents a specific section of a web page with a distinct topic or purpose. It is often used for dividing a page into multiple sections, like chapters in a book, to make it more organized and easier to understand for both humans and machines.

Here's an example of how these two elements could be used:

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<div class="header">
  <!-- elements that make up the header of a web page -->
</div>

<section>
  <h2>About Us</h2>
  <p>We are a team of passionate developers...</p>
</section>

In the above code, the div element is used to group together the elements that make up the header of a web page, while the section element is used to create a distinct section with the title "About Us" and a paragraph about the team.

I hope this helps! For more information, you can check out the official HTML documentation:

• div element
• section element

The span and div elements are typically used to define divisions or sections in an HTML document. The span element is an inline element, used to wrap small pieces of content within its parent element. The div element is a block-level element, used to wrap large chunks of code and define divisions within a page.

Another distinction is that span elements do not have semantic meaning or built-in styling. div elements, however, have semantic meaning (such as a div tag marked as "aside" meaning that its content is tangentially related to the flow of the document) and come with some form of styling.