For example: <div/> instead of <div></div>.
I did this and apparently the HTML5 validator passed this as valid. I was wondering it this is actually true?
PS: I'm serving page as application/xhtml+xml
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192answers:
3
+6
A:
This is not valid HTML 5 (HTML does not allow shorttags, the equivalent HTML construct is a single opening div tag). It is valid XHTML 5, as it is valid XML.
The reason why you might see this pass through a validator just fine is because of what you stated:
PS: I'm serving page as application/xhtml+xml
Which means that you tell the validator that it must treat your markup as XML. In other words your page is not HTML 5 at all.
+1. By default, no elements support the self-closing syntax. Elements which have no content model / empty content model *can* be self-closed for XHTML compliance, but the browser treats them the same either way. For example, `<img />` and `<img>` are the same.
Rex M
2010-10-04 02:42:27
In cases like this, please try to distinguish between HTML5 the spec, and the HTML (text/html) and XHTML (application/xhtml+xml) serializations contained within. Although this answer is essentially correct until the last sentence, the XHTML page is indeed HTML5.
Alohci
2010-10-04 08:19:46
+3
A:
That syntax is allowed for a specific subset of HTML5 elements, known as void elements, and a few other cases:
Then, if the element is one of the void elements, or if the element is a foreign element, then there may be a single U+002F SOLIDUS character (/). This character has no effect on void elements, but on foreign elements it marks the start tag as self-closing.
Void elements:
area, base, br, col, command, embed, hr, img, input, keygen, link, meta, param, source, track, wbr
They're not allowed for any others, including <div>.
(I'd originally answered that yes, this is valid HTML5, since it's such a common construct in XML. Rex M, and a close reading of the spec, tells me that I'm wrong)
Michael Petrotta
2010-10-04 02:40:51