For as long as I've been validating web pages, I never realized that the closing </head> tag was optional in HTML. I feel as if I've missed the boat at times.

While I'm all for trimming excess code, I just cannot for the life of me strip out closing tags because they are optional in HTML. I'd be concerned that something, somewhere would not parse the document correctly if I removed the closing </head> element.

Are my concerns unfounded?

Considering that most everything now is coded in XHTML, get used to closing everything you open.

Take it from someone who remembers the room size computers you had to feed a box of punch cards the size of a copy paper box to make a picture of Snoopy made out of X's....GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) still holds true. The cleaner your code is, the better your pages will function.

TANYA: put a Javascript and/or an inline stylesheet into the head of your document, and then choose not to close the head tag. Then watch what happens to your page.

You'll never forget to close a head tag again after that.

Long live xHTML! Always close <tags>, even down to the <br />s. IT worth it just to get the satisfaction of validation I think

Originally Posted by Foundationflash

Long live xHTML! Always close <tags>, even down to the <br />s. IT worth it just to get the satisfaction of validation I think

Not only that but to know you left your options open!

Yes, but to keep your options open, you must close your <option> tag.
*duck*

I don't know why anyone wouldn't want standards compliant code. You leave out all the tags you think you can and you may have a hard time finding the one that broke a page.