Why is <form> a block element?

Question

The purpose of a <form> element, IMO, is semantic not presentational - the element is there to define an area with elements which can be sent to the server.

Why then, does the browser (and, I assume in the spec), specify display:block in the user agent stylesheet? Surely, if you want to have the form be a block, you can just wrap it in a div element?

Usually, I just put form { display: inline } into my css to override this. Still, I'm wondering if there was a good reason for making the <form> display as a block by default, or if it's just been kept that way for legacy reasons.

Answer 1

I assume this is because a <form> will very often contain other block level elements (div's for structure, or though I cringe at the thought, tables to help organize form fields, etc.). And having an inline element that contains block elements, while entirely possible, is semantically questionable.

I completely agree with your point about <form> not being presentational, but at the same time it makes sense to me that it would be a block element, given how the tag is generally used.