CODEWITHSUNDEEP
w3cw3c-validation
Jeremy A. West
Jeremy A. West

Reputation: 2300

Can self closing <link> tags be problematic?

I read that self closing tags were problematic for some browsers such as IE7 and Firefox 3 here: Why don't self-closing script tags work?

I am curious if this issue can also hold true for linking stylesheets.

For example using 

<link href="/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

Instead of

<link href="/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link>

Upvotes: 27

Views: 25633

Answers (2)

Hubert Sch&#246;lnast
Hubert Sch&#246;lnast

Reputation: 8497

<link href="/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link> is not a good idea.

If you use html4 use this:
<link href="/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

If you use xhtml use this:
<link href="/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

In html5 both versions are fine.

Upvotes: 38

Sebbe
Sebbe

Reputation: 478

HTML 4

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#edef-LINK
Start tag: required, End tag: forbidden

HTML 5

http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/document-metadata.html#the-link-element
Tag omission in text/html: No end tag.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/syntax.html#elements-0
"Void elements: ... link ..."
"Void elements only have a start tag; end tags must not be specified for void elements."

Upvotes: 27

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