Why and How to Write Minimal and Valid HTML, a Link Guide

Published on Jul 24, 2025, filed under development, html, minimalism, conformance, performance, optimization (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

If you’re interested in writing HTML that is as compact as possible for a payload as small as possible, and in writing HTML that is error-free and conforms to the HTML standard, then this is a link guide for you. Specializing in minimal and valid HTML, it refers to some of my writings about these subjects.

Why Minimal HTML

• HTML and Performance: Leave Out Optional Tags and Quotes
• Write HTML, the HTML Way (Not the XHTML Way)
• The Magic of the Most Minimal HTML Possible (and Why We Don’t Make Use of It)
• A Short Guide to Minimal Web Development

How to Write Minimal HTML

• Optional HTML: Everything You Need to Know
• The Most Minimal Valid HTML Document
• The HTML History and Optimization Cheat Sheet
• HTML Minifier Next (a Maintained Fork of HTML Minifier)
• An HTML Optimizer’s Config for [HTML Minifier]
• Minimal Social Markup—just for social markup

Why Valid HTML

• 2024: 0.5% of the Global Top 200 Websites Use Valid HTML—to illustrate the pervasiveness of HTML non-conformance (i.e., of invalid HTML)
• The Two Great Things About Validation (and Conformance)
• The 3-Second Frontend Developer Test
• We Need to Talk More About Conformance, if We Want to Stop Fantasy HTML
  • How Often Should We Speak About HTML Conformance?
• On the Uniting Power of a Commitment to HTML Conformance

How to Write Valid HTML

• HTML Conformance: A Comparison of 6.5 npm Validator Packages (With 1.5 Recommendations)

(You can find more articles about minimalism and conformance on Frontend Dogma.)

What Else to Consider for HTML Optimization

• Examples of HTML optimization—my ebook series
• The 3 Ground Rules for Writing HTML
• The 6 Ways of Writing HTML (and Their Combinations)
• What Is HTML Optimization? What Is It Not?

As with other articles, I’m likely to update and extend this one. If you have feedback or suggestions, please let me know!

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)