...and this is why I still only do XHTML strict. I mean giving up predictability and the whole world of XML tools and libraries for these "benefits"... I really don't see the point.
If you need XML: use XML tools.
If you need HTML: use HTML tools.
If you need XHTML... you're writing web content for IE, and IE is dead. XHTML died with it. Feel free to stick with what you know, but that's a pretty ridiculous argument for why you shouldn't use the thing that's used these days instead of the thing we used 15 years ago =)
(hot damn, 15 years. It's been longer than most folks realize).
For the record, anyone who writes `<br />` as `<br>` is...misinformed.