In HTML 4.01 certain end tags are forbidden, that means it in not valid markup to have them, e.g.:
Invalid Valid =================== ================= <BR/> <BR> <BR></BR> <IMG src="..."/> <IMG src="..."> <IMG ...></IMG> <INPUT ... /> <INPUT ...> <INPUT ...></INPUT>
In the HTML 4.01 specification the indication of an end tag being optional or forbidden is nicely summarized in the index of elements:
Name Start Tag End Tag AREA F BASE F BASEFONT F BODY O O BR F COL F COLGROUP O DD O DT O FRAME F HEAD O O HR F HTML O O IMG F INPUT F ISINDEX F LI O LINK F META F OPTION O P O PARAM F TBODY O O TD O TFOOT O TH O THEAD O TR O
Where is the HTML 5 equivalent of indicating which end tags are:
- required
- optional (implicit)
- forbidden