<br /> in html 4

[Barbara de Zoete]

Following a suggestion in another thread to investigate the php function
nl2br() I have been able to format content inputted via a textarea into
separate paragraphs (well line breaks anyway). These line breaks however
are the xhtml <br /> (which they are supposed to be) but the page is html
4.01. If I validate it however it checks out fine but I'm not sure why? Is
<br /> ok to use then?

How about checking it yourself
<http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/index/elements.html> ?

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| weblog | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/_private/weblog.html |
| webontwerp | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/webontwerp.html |
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`-------------------------------------------------- --<--@ ------------'

 

[Robert Frost-Bridges]

Following a suggestion in another thread to investigate the php function
nl2br() I have been able to format content inputted via a textarea into
separate paragraphs (well line breaks anyway). These line breaks however
are the xhtml <br /> (which they are supposed to be) but the page is html
4.01. If I validate it however it checks out fine but I'm not sure why? Is
<br /> ok to use then?
(It's the page in my sig if you need to see it).

regards,

 

[Barbara de Zoete]

I did. It says end tag forbidden but doesn't seem to mention <br />.

It gives <br> as the proper syntax for the element. So if <br /> validates in an
otherwise html4 document, something else is going on.

--
,-- --<--@ -- PretLetters: 'woest wyf', met vele interesses: ----------.
| weblog | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/_private/weblog.html |
| webontwerp | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/webontwerp.html |
|zweefvliegen | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/vliegen.html |
`-------------------------------------------------- --<--@ ------------'

 

[Robert Frost-Bridges]

How about checking it yourself
<http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/index/elements.html> ?

I did. It says end tag forbidden but doesn't seem to mention <br />.

 

[David Dorward]

Following a suggestion in another thread to investigate the php function
nl2br() I have been able to format content inputted via a textarea into
separate paragraphs (well line breaks anyway). These line breaks however
are the xhtml <br /> (which they are supposed to be) but the page is html
4.01. If I validate it however it checks out fine but I'm not sure why? Is
<br /> ok to use then?

Short version: No

Longer version: It means the same as <br>&gt; - and some browsers do render
it as such.

Long version: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/html/empty.html

 

[Robert Frost-Bridges]

It gives <br> as the proper syntax for the element. So if <br /> validates
in an otherwise html4 document, something else is going on.

That's what I'm wondering.

regards,

 

[Andrew @ Rockface]

In

Following a suggestion in another thread to investigate the php
function nl2br() I have been able to format content inputted via a
textarea into separate paragraphs (well line breaks anyway). These
line breaks however are the xhtml <br /> (which they are supposed to
be) but the page is html
4.01. If I validate it however it checks out fine but I'm not sure
why? Is <br /> ok to use then?
(It's the page in my sig if you need to see it).

regards,

I wrote this a while back when I was learning php, so it's a little
over-verbose:

function text_to_paragraphs($text) {
// Return formatted string only if not empty
if (!eregi('^\s*$',$text)) {
// Strip final whitespace
$text = trim($text);
// Add <p> to start of string
$text = ereg_replace("^", "<p>", $text);
// Add </p> to end of string
$text = ereg_replace("$", "</p>", $text);
// Stick </p><p> at line ends
$text = ereg_replace("(\r\n|\n|\r)", "</p><p>", $text);
// Chop last <p>
$text = ereg_replace("<p>$", "", $text);
return ($text);
} else {
return false;
}
}

 

[Robert Frost-Bridges]

Short version: No

Longer version: It means the same as <br>&gt; - and some browsers do
render it as such.

Long version: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/html/empty.html

Thanks David, I might have known Jukka would have a take on this. Reading it
however, it still seems to imply that <br /> should not validate to html 4
strict. And yet http://brightonfixedodds.net/br_test.html does.

 

[David Dorward]

Thanks David, I might have known Jukka would have a take on this. Reading
it however, it still seems to imply that <br /> should not validate to
html 4 strict. And yet http://brightonfixedodds.net/br_test.html does.

So does: "<p> <br>> </p>"
But "<meta>> </head>" won't

Character data is allowed in divs.

 

[Robert Frost-Bridges]

I wrote this a while back when I was learning php, so it's a little
over-verbose:

[..code..]

What can I say Andrew, this is just what I'm looking for and works
perfectly. Now to dissect it. (nicely commented too btw, again thank you).

 

[Robert Frost-Bridges]

So does: "<p> <br>> </p>"
But "<meta>> </head>" won't

Character data is allowed in divs.

Ah yes, I've got it now. Thank you for your time.

 

[Andy Dingley]

Reading it
however, it still seems to imply that <br /> should not validate to html 4
strict.

No, it's valid. It's just that it means

"linebreak

"

rather than merely "linebreak"


It's still not a good idea to do it.