Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,
 
We encountered a question regarding the documentation covering XHTML closing tag requirements.  While not necessarily incorrect technically, the information may lead to a nonstandard style and result in pages rendered incorrectly by older browsers as the example is not HTML 4 compatible.
 
The illustration sample found at http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xhtml1-20020801/#h-4.6 does not include a space before the closing tag.  The referened HTML Compatibility Guideline, however, states that a space is required.
 
Could the sample shown be changed include the space prior to the closing tag, as the compatibility guideline states?    Please let me know if I'm bing too nit picky, but I've found that examples and dictum need to align, else one may follow displayed examples as a shortcut. 
 
See links below for comparison.
 
http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xhtml1-20020801/#h-4.6  
"Empty elements must either have an end tag or the start tag must end with />. For instance, <br/> or <hr></hr>. See HTML Compatibility Guidelines for information on ways to ensure this is backward compatible with HTML 4 user agents."
 
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#guidelines 
"Include a space before the trailing / and > of empty elements, e.g. <br />, <hr /> and <img src="karen.jpg" alt="Karen" />. Also, use the minimized tag syntax for empty elements, e.g. <br />, as the alternative syntax <br></br> allowed by XML gives uncertain results in many existing user agents."
 
 
Thanks!
 
* Jeff