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I'm sorry but saying a discussion is over because "Google says so in their style guide" is contemptible.

I still think empty elements make more sense and a proper reformulation of XHTML(5) is the way it should have been done since the beginning.

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Yes it is! Who said that? (Or was that all you got out of the article?)

"Well, for those of you who are really addicted to X(HT)ML, you might think, «yeah, it's optional, but <br /> is still 'more correct'», but I have to tell you: it is not. Actually, one might argue that adding / to a void tag is an ignored syntax error. The possibility to write it has mostly been added for compatibility reasons and every browser and parser should not handle <br> and <br /> any differently.

Google's styleguide on that subject is also very clear that you should indeed not close void tags."

At what point did they say that was supposed to be the end of the discussion?

It's written as the last line of that section/paragraph. It's essentially a closing argument. The reader can be drawn in no other direction. If they says "interestingly" or such that it was obviously a small paragraph then maybe I'd not draw this conclusion.

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