The CSS Padding Attribute

This attribute is used to place a space between the borders of an element and its contents. It is assigned using the shorthand code padding:value or by assigning padding-?:value where ? is one of left, top, right or bottom. Any legal CSS length unit can be used for the assignment. value cannot be negative. If background attributes have been assigned they cover the padded area as well as the client area of the element. The height of inline elements is not affected by this attribute. It is vital to have an understanding of the CSS Box Model in order to properly utilize this attribute.

This is not an inherited property - i.e. in a child element, if not assigned, it takes the default value rather than the corresponding value in its parent container.

This attribute can also be assigned the setting inherit which causes it to pick up its value from the parent element.