<p>

[Aragoth]

What is the point of the <p> paragraph tag? What does it do concerning... well... pretty much anything? I have only used the <br> tag in the past, and set up paragraphs in that fashion. What does it develop?

[Twey]

It's a tag to contain paragraphs.

I have only used the <br> tag in the past

<br> is meant for special purposes, such as line breaks within the same paragraph, or line breaks in something that is not a paragraph, such as a postal address or verse of poetry.

[djr33]

Technically, <p> is better. Or something.
But I usually just use <br> myself.
The exception would be if I was writing actual paragraphs.
I hate the double line break of <p>, so I just use <br>.
Though, yes, technically, <p> is better, so don't neccessarily take my word for it.

[Twey]

I hate the double line break of <p>

There is no double line break. There's a line break, some padding, and some margin. If you don't like it, style it.

[mburt]

Are you sure there isn't a double line break in <p>? Anyway...

[djr33]

Well, whatever you call it, there is the space of two line breaks. There is a line break, plus the "padding", that acts as a blank line.
And, you didn't say WHY <p> is better. Any reason?

[blm126]

Sematics, <p> is better than a <br> because it describes what the content is, not how it should look.

[mburt]

<br> Doesn't have a closing tag (</br> which is invalid). <p> is for containing a paragraph (<p>Some paragraph</p>) and then you can use <br>'s inside of it. I don't think there's any problem with using only <br> though. Personally, I find <br> better for spacing text and what-not.

[Twey]

blm126 is exactly right. A paragraph may be handled differently depending on what's parsing the data; a screenreader, for example, might pause before starting a new paragraph.