And finally!
Quote:
C.3. Element Minimization and Empty Element Content
Given an empty instance of an element whose content model is not EMPTY (for example, an empty title or paragraph) do not use the minimized form (e.g. use <p></p> and not <p />).
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from
https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#dtds
Using <title /> instead of <title></title> actually causes a blank page with all the content <body>stuff</body> missing and only visible via view code on some browsers.
But remember, ebook CSS and HTML (and XML) is a special subset, even if rendered by a web page renderer, which might render stuff that breaks totally on real ereaders.