P-end-tag () is not needed in HTML [closed]

Answer 1

P-end-tag is only required in XHTML, not in HTML.

Correct

But some times you have to close it any way eg. when you align the paragraph left/right/center.

Incorrect. The only time you need an explicit end tag is when you want to end the paragraph and immediately follow it by something that is allowed inside a paragraph (such as text or an inline element). This is usually a bad idea.

Would it for any reason be a bad idea to mix the usage of P-end-tag

Only that consistency is a virtue which aids in code maintenance.

Answer 2

I can't think of any reasons why you couldn't do this, but would strongly encourage just using both the beginning and end tags everywhere for consistency. It'll also make it easier for when you do decide to start following the XHTML standards.

Answer 3

You only need to finish the last <p> tag. Example:

<p align="left">Left
<p align="center">Center
<p align="right">Right</p> <!-If you don't put an ending tag, the text will continue in the same line
<p>End</p>

Plus it's faster and reduces the memory of the HTML file.

Answer 4

HTML5 quote that makes it clear when p can be omitted

Since this is why most Googlers must be coming here: 4.4.1 "The p element" https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/grouping-content.html#the-p-element

Tag omission in text/html:

A p element's end tag can be omitted if the p element is immediately followed by an address, article, aside, blockquote, details, div, dl, fieldset, figcaption, figure, footer, form, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, header, hgroup, hr, main, menu, nav, ol, p, pre, section, table, or ul element, or if there is no more content in the parent element and the parent element is an HTML element that is not an a, audio, del, ins, map, noscript, or video element, or an autonomous custom element.

Worth noting that a few other closing tags can also be omitted, e.g. li: https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/grouping-content.html#the-li-element

The full list can be found at 12.1.2.4 "Optional tags" https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/syntax.html#optional-tags

I don't recommend doing it however as others mentioned.

This HTML "feature" is one of the reasons why HTML5 is not a subset of XML.