# Pinegrow using discouraged self-closing tag syntax

**URL:** <https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/pinegrow-using-discouraged-self-closing-tag-syntax/7070>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [October 5, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/pinegrow-using-discouraged-self-closing-tag-syntax/7070 "2022-10-05T15:59:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![svsmailus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/svsmailus/32/4584_2.png) [@svsmailus](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/svsmailus)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/pinegrow-using-discouraged-self-closing-tag-syntax/7070/1 "2022-10-05T15:59:41Z")

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According to W3 Validator, self-closing tag syntax in text/html documents is [widely discouraged](https://google.github.io/styleguide/htmlcssguide.html#Document_Type).

So the correct format is:

`<meta charset="utf-8">`

Not  
`<meta charset="utf-8"/>`

and  
`<link rel="stylesheet" href="blocks.css">`

Not  
`<link rel="stylesheet" href="blocks.css"/>`

How do I set this as the default format in Pinegrow?

If I make edits outside Pinegrow (ie BBedit) Pinegrow changes them back to the discouraged format.

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**Author:** ![kiyoshi-miki](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/kiyoshi-miki/32/3988_2.png) [@kiyoshi-miki](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/kiyoshi-miki)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/pinegrow-using-discouraged-self-closing-tag-syntax/7070/2 "2022-10-05T18:48:48Z")

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Hi !

Same problem with other tags such as “img” or “br” line breaks, it is true that by default in pinegrow, the tag closes in “/\>” format and not “\>” according to the new recommendations of the W3C (September, 21), it’s very recent and it’s moreover quite disputed in the community because the format “/\>” is more readable in the code especially for the novices, finally this is what emerges from it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![svsmailus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/svsmailus/32/4584_2.png) [@svsmailus](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/svsmailus)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/pinegrow-using-discouraged-self-closing-tag-syntax/7070/3 "2022-10-05T19:58:42Z")

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That would explain it. Hadn’t realised the change until I ran my site through the W3 Validator.

I’m assuming it’s not going to break anything browser wise for the foreseeable future?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kiyoshi-miki](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/kiyoshi-miki/32/3988_2.png) [@kiyoshi-miki](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/kiyoshi-miki)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/pinegrow-using-discouraged-self-closing-tag-syntax/7070/4 "2022-10-06T18:10:02Z")

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Good evening, to answer your questions, this is only my opinion, the W3C tool indicates that “/\>” is not an error in itself, it’s a possible bad interaction with attribute values without quotes in the tag. In fact we have no choice, when opening a page with Pinegrow, the “/\>” choice is imposed in the HTML code. I don’t know if the Pinegrow team will come up with a solution to have a choice between with “/\>” and without. In any case, I don’t think you have any impact in the execution of the pages in the browser or bad results as speed, SEO etc.