Ask HN: Why does Google 404 serve invalid HTML?

zephyr39 · on Aug 10, 2016

The Google Style Guide[0] for HTML recommends omitting all optional tags. That includes <html>, <head>, <body>, <p> and <li>.

[0] https://google.github.io/styleguide/htmlcssguide.xml#Optiona...

For file size optimization and scannability purposes, consider omitting optional tags. The HTML5 specification defines what tags can be omitted.

(This approach may require a grace period to be established as a wider guideline as it’s significantly different from what web developers are typically taught. For consistency and simplicity reasons it’s best served omitting all optional tags, not just a selection.)

  <!-- Not recommended -->
  <!DOCTYPE html>
  <html>
    <head>
      <title>Spending money, spending bytes</title>
    </head>
    <body>
      <p>Sic.</p>
    </body>
  </html>

  <!-- Recommended -->
  <!DOCTYPE html>
  <title>Saving money, saving bytes</title>
  <p>Qed.

xydac · on Aug 9, 2016

That's interesting to know. A Body css without a <body> tag..!!