Why don t self-closing script elements work

Question

What is the reason browsers do not correctly recognize:

<script src="foobar.js" /> <!-- self-closing script element -->

Only this is recognized:

<script src="foobar.js"></script>

Does this break the concept of XHTML support?

Answer 1

Hello @kartik,

That's because SCRIPT TAG is not a VOID ELEMENT.

In an HTML Document - VOID ELEMENTS do not need a "closing tag" at all!

In xhtml, everything is Generic, therefore they all need termination e.g. a "closing tag"; Including br, a simple line-break, as <br></br> or its shorthand <br />.

However, a Script Element is never a void or a parametric Element, because script tag before anything else, is a Browser Instruction, not a Data Description declaration.

Hope this works!!

Thank You!!