At first glance, padding seems to have an effect identical to margins: It adds space around the element’s content. The difference is that padding sets the space between the border of the element and its content rather than between the element and the other elements in the window. Padding is useful when you’re using borders and background colors and don’t want the content butting right up to the edges. To set padding: 1. Start your declaration by typing the padding property name, followed by a colon (:) padding: 2. Type a value for the element’s padding.