Optional Tags in HTML 4

Published on Jun 1, 2008 (updated Feb 5, 2024), filed under development, html, minimalism, performance. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

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For your convenience, here’s a list of all optional tags according to the HTML 4.01 Strict DTD. Omitting these tags allows saving markup and thus file size—if you choose to. I created this list because even nine years after the release of the HTML 4 specification, there still is no list like this.

• </area>
• </base>
• <body>
• </body>
• </br>
• </col>
• </colgroup>
• </dd>
• </dt>
• <head>
• </head>
• </hr>
• <html>
• </html>
• </img>
• </input>
• </li>
• </link>
• </meta>
• </option>
• </p>
• </param>
• <tbody>
• </tbody>
• </td>
• </tfoot>
• </th>
• </thead>
• </tr>

These are indeed tags, not elements. The list might explain the simplicity of the supposedly best HTML template. Thanks Rupert for the inspiration, and others for the encouragement to extend it (HTML 5? [which I made available 11 years later]).

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, dxsrc). You’ll like my work if you value pragmatic, proactive problem-solvers. Let’s connect.