Can we use <a> directly in body, or it should always in any block level tag, see example ? xhtml

Question

Which is right?

<h2>heading 2</h2>
<p><a href="#" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">link 1</a></p>
<h2>heading 2 </h2>
<p><a href="#" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">link 2</a></p>
<h2>heading 2 </h2>
<p><a href="#" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">link 3</a></p>
<h2>heading 2 </h2>
<p><a href="#" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">link 4</a></p>

and this

<h2>heading 2</h2>
<a href="#" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">link 1</a>
<h2>heading 2 </h2>
<a href="#" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">link 2</a>
<h2>heading 2 </h2>
<a href="#" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">link 3</a>
<h2>heading 2 </h2>
<a href="#" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">link 4</a>

Answer 1

Both are right, both will validate

Answer 2

Both are fine but having floating inline elements bothers me for some reason

Answer 3

While I have never cared about the "non-block in block element" rule when writing HTML codes, the body element is supposed to be a block element. (I've forgotten where I read it tho') i.e. your both HTML code fragments are right.

Answer 4

Neither of them are truly 'right' semantically :-)

Put them as a list and try to avoid the target="_blank". There's probably no reason to put a <p> around each <a> (just ensure that the whole lot is in a block level element if you want to validate with strict - good point infant programmer).

If you want the <a> to act as block level element and thus remove the <p> just use

#somewrapper a
{
 display: block;
}