HTML 5: Is it , , or ?

In HTML5, the correct and most widely accepted way to insert a line break is using the
tag without a slash. While you may still see
or
in older documents or XHTML-based code, they are not required in HTML5.

Here’s how the different versions compare:

•  
  – This is the correct syntax in HTML5. Since HTML5 is not based on XML, there’s no need to self-close the tag.
  
•  
  or
  – These are remnants of XHTML, which is stricter about closing tags. They still work in most browsers, but are not necessary and can look outdated in modern HTML5 code.
  
• Why use
  ?
  
• It's simpler and cleaner.
  
• HTML5 allows void elements (like
  , , <>) ><>><><>><>>.
  <>><><>><><>>, > ><>