Yes it is bad. The code will display wrong in some browsers depending on where it is placed. Browsers don't show people the page that you see if you view source (assuming it's not valid), instead it generates code and displays that, and in doing so it would attempt to close all your tags for you, which all browsers do differently.
Think about it this way: If its there, its there for a reason. Programming languages don't have all these functions in it for them to be ignored If your too lazy to close them yourself or just forget I suggest using Dreamweaver where you can just type </ and it will automatically close any unclosed tags.
No, when <p> is not closed but another <p> is encountered most of the browser interprets the first one as closed, however it is a bad practice.
It's laziness if you don't - you should always aim to write complaint xhtml code, at least transitional 1.0, ideally strict.
use <br> tags more often. I think p tags are overused - the only reason I could see using them is if they had some seo benefit which I'm not aware of
If you are writing text which should be in paragraphs, then for the love of god please use <p> tags and finish it with a </p> It's called semantics, the tags are there for that use, so why use a <br> tag when there is a perfectly logical tag to use??? You can even specify padding on <p> tags, or individualize them with <p class="larger"> so there is no excuse not to use them when it is so blantently obvious!!!
For a start it's <br /> The <p> tags main benifit is to people using screen readers (i.e. people who can't see well enough to read it themselves). Other than that it's just semantics, not that important.
Are we not in this to make the internet a better experience for everyone??? Why take shortcuts when they save no time? Is it really that hard to code properly, effectively and semantically? It makes sense and takes us out of the 1990's web design era.
Yeah, but some people don't care enough to do that. You'll learn that soon. I code valid xhtml strict now, didn't about 6 months ago. But most people think that if it works then theres nothing wrong.
Hence why we need to change peoples opinions, and not just say, yeah use a <br /> its not important! Maybe it's just me being picky, but I think we all need to raise the standard higher if we're going to produce a better web for everyone!
In the future and even now xhtml has to be used for all your html so browsers will display it properly. New web standards are that all tags must be closed or the code is invalid. Go here(W3validator) to validate your code.
Wow, folks... Just... wow. In HTML 4 there is NOTHING that says you have to close the paragraph tag. So long as you are using a HTML doctype you don't have to close your <P> (though it can stop SOME CSS browser bugs from cropping up) - likewise for <br> </p> is only manditory in XHTML doctypes, as is the self closing structure <br /> - in fact, closing a BR that way is INVALID HTML (though most browsers ignore that because it interprets the / as an escape code) Bottom line HTML - you don't have to close <p>, and you don't close <br> XHTML - you MUST close <p> and you must shortcut close <br />
Well, basically some browsers see things differently; without closing your "p" tags depending on your browser it can paragraph everything. Nonetheless, it won't be valid. Kind Regards.
Isn't it just that <br/> is invalid cause it doesn't have a space? Or is that just it won't work in older browsers (IE<=5)? Sometimes forget which. I thought it was <br /> that was okay cause HTML will ignore the space then /. But maybe it's the browsers i'm getting confused with.