HTML5 is the next generation of mark-up, and is currently being supported to variable levels by most modern browsers. The HTML4 v HTML5 differences:- http://www.w3.org/TR/html5-diff/ While a range of new/different elements are now able to be used, there is a relaxation in the mark-up compared with HTML4 and XHTML strict doctypes. Well that's a bit of a fallacy, as the doctype (DTD) should only determine the standards the browser will apply when rendering the code. It's the content type "text/html" or "application/xhtml+xml" that tells the browser what it needs to be looking for in the mark-up. In practice when it comes to the validators, they err on the side of the doctype. The following article should help explain:- http://www.webdevout.net/articles/beware-of-xhtml#content_type In fact there are a lot of valuable facts to be found right throughout the above page. In HTML5 most elements will not require to be closed, but you need to respect the nesting of elements such as the <span> where you <span>change</span> something</span> as indicated. Browsers can determine where an element should end by noting the start of a new one, but they aren't 'mind readers'. The following page:- http://countjustonce.com/test/html5-test.html - validates as valid HTML5 at:- http://validator.nu, and http://validator.w3.org. Browsers back to IE6 will handle this minimalist mark-up. IE5.01 also does, but with a bit of extra help! Copy & Paste the mark-up in the box to your text editor, and you will have the basic code to play with yourself. WARNING:: Don't use this relaxed mark-up for pages on Rootsweb or Freepages servers, as both the opening <body> and the closing </body> tags are required. Barry