What happens to the width and height of inline-block elements in CSS?

Inline-block elements in CSS have the unique characteristic of allowing developers to set both width and height dimensions while still maintaining the ability to be displayed inline with other elements. This is important because it combines the benefits of block-level and inline elements.

Block-level elements generally take up the full width of their parent container, while inline elements do not honor height and width properties as they adjust their size based solely on content. Inline-block elements bridge this gap: they can have specific dimensions as defined by CSS rules, yet they stay aligned with other inline or inline-block elements in the same line.

This flexibility is particularly useful for designing layouts where control over sizing is necessary, while still wanting to keep items in line with one another—like buttons in a navigation bar or elements in a grid layout.