I'm not sure I agree (I too did not know they weren't required any more). We frequently see things like JavaScript pulled in at the bottom of documents -- the

I'm not sure I agree (I too did not know they weren't required any more). We frequently see things like JavaScript pulled in at the bottom of documents -- the head and body long since stopped having functional impacts, and all they seem to do is make you feel guilty about doing things it seems it's not only pragmatic but perfectly OK to do now. I guess omitting the outermost HTML tags would disturb me slightly if one wants to keep XML-ish. But then it's always bugged me that XML kind of assumes the "file" has no semantic significance.