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Are Self-Closing HTML Spans Valid in All Cases?

Susan SarandonOriginal: 2024-11-02 02:42:02765browse

Self-Closing HTML Spans: Valid or Invalid?

Can HTML spans be closed using the self-closing syntax, i.e., ? The validity of this approach depends on your document type.

XHTML

In XHTML (HTML that adheres to XML standards), self-closing tags are supported by all major browsers. For instance, the following code is valid in XHTML:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <title></title>
</head>
<body>
    <h2 id="test">Test</h2>
    <p>Some stuff <span class="drop" /></p>
</body>
</html>

HTML

However, in HTML (without the XHTML doctype), self-closing tags are only valid for a limited set of elements. To determine if a specific element can be self-closed, refer to the W3C spec for that element (e.g.,

can be closed without the end tag).

Additional Notes:

Certain browsers may incorrectly interpret self-closing tags in HTML. To ensure compatibility, it's best to use the full closing tag syntax, i.e., .
As servers typically serve pages as text/html, the vast majority of cases should use the traditional closing syntax.

Helpful References:

[W3C Validator](https://validator.w3.org/)
[XHTML vs HTML](https://www.w3.org/2002/Talks/1206-xhtml2/history.html)

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