Re: xhtml compatibility guideline

Hi Mark,

At 01:28 PM 12/21/2002 -0800, you wrote:
> The suggestion to output <br
> /> is a suggestion because a few common browers
> that don't understand xhtml are able to render this invalid html in
> some
> reasonable manner.  This is only going to work with bug-compatible
> browsers. 

When you say "this is only going to work with bug-compatible
browsers", are you implying that browsers which only understand
standards compliant XHTML won't understand <br /> as opposed to the
"correct" <br>?  There is nothing in the XML or
XHTML specs that I know of which forbid the extra space between the tag
name and the ending "/".

The whole reason for the recommendation of doing <br /> is so that
both standards compliant XHTML-capable *and* older browsers can
understand the same XHTML markup.  The latter case being one where
the older browser is fooled into thinking that it is normal html instead
of XHTML...basically taking advantage of the way the html parser works in
those older browsers.

So, doing <br /> rather than <br/> doesn't hurt anything and
it helps the older browsers understand the markup while the opposite
renders properly only in new standards compliant browsers.  Since
there is no harm in doing <br />, why not do it by default for all
XHTML output?  No switches needed....although one could still be
there if one really just wants <br/>.


Jake