Opened a web page's source code and found it all on one long line, with dozens of tags packed together with no spacing? HTML formatting solves this by clearly showing the nesting structure.
A modern web page has dozens or hundreds of tags nested inside each other — a section inside a section inside a section. If all of that is on one line with no spacing, it's impossible to tell by eye where a tag closes, or which element is inside which.
Formatting adds extra indentation for each level of nesting, so just by looking at the code you can visually see which element is the parent of which, and which elements are siblings. This makes it much easier to spot errors like an unclosed tag, or an element placed in the wrong spot in the page's hierarchy.
The browser renders the page exactly the same whether the code is formatted or compressed onto one line — indentation and new lines have zero effect on the final rendering for the visitor. Formatting exists entirely for the developer's benefit, so they can read and edit the code easily.
Using the HTML Formatter on Fawran Tools:
Not at all, formatting only affects the source code, and the browser renders the page exactly the same.
To reduce the transmitted file size, which slightly improves page load speed.
No, the browser doesn't care about it at all — it's purely for the developer's readability.
The principle is similar, but HTML has added complexity due to nested tags and mixed content elements.
Formatting has zero effect on your page's final appearance, but it saves you significant time reading and debugging any complex HTML — a simple step that turns a compact block of text into a clear, instantly understandable structure.