What are these coloured lines called, and what is their purpose?

Sujan Sundareswaran

Of late I’m seeing these coloured lines being used quite a bit on websites, usually under a main headline, and above the succeeding paragraph. While they look nice, and add to the aesthetics, do they have a name? Is there a purpose behind these lines?

Cory Maylett

They're typically created with styled horizontal rule <hr> tags, but I don't really think this particular use of horizontal rules has a name.

As for their function, they can serve as organizational elements for the content, like identifying main headlines or separating one block of text from the next. When used consistently as part of a website's style, they can play a part in the website's overall cohesion and personality. They're an easy-to-code way of injecting a little color into what might otherwise be a long block of gray type — like you said, aesthetics.

Raphaël Ronot

Some might call them "Separators"

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

I guess this has a typographic angle?...

Cory Maylett

Well, it gets mixed in with the typography on a page as sort of a pseudo-typographic thing, I suppose. 

Sujan Sundareswaran

I recall someone calling them “anchors”. Apparently helps anchor the text to the alignment setting.