[whatwg] Allow trailing slash in always-empty HTML5 elements?

[Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis]

Alexey Feldgendler wrote:
> They do mention validation:  
> http://www.anysurfer.be/fr/obtenir-label/procedures-de-labellisation/la-validation/  
> -- though I'm not sure they mean "ensuring valid HTML".

I'm afraid they mean validating to /their/ accessibility standards, not
the (X)HTML specifications. (The page in question has 37 XHTML
validation errors.) Some discussion of the reasoning behind not
requiring validation can be found at:

http://veerle.duoh.com/index.php/blog/comments/a_response_from_an_accessibility_consultant_from_blindsurfer/

(NB AnySurfer used to be called BlindSurfer.) 

And for another example of accessibility-orientated developers
decisively rejecting validation, seemingly with RNIB's tacit acceptance,
consider LightMaker (creators of the flagship "accessible" Flash at J.
K. Rowling's website):

http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/news/just-how-accessible-is-the-web-bbc-1s-click-investigates/

I explain why inserting deliberate errors into their own markup was
counter-productive in comments there, so I won't repeat myself here. :)

--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis