[Khachaturov Vassilii <Vassilii.Khachaturov@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK, I've refreshed my memories on the SGML std.

> What I want to know is if </> will be compatible with SGML 
> infrastructures 
> out there. If it is, then I prefer those closing tags. If 

It's compatible with generic SGML infrastructures (those that are able
to parse the DocBook DTD and the associated SGML decl. properly).
It is valid as long as SHORTTAG is enabled in the SGML decl.
(And it is - quoting docbook.dcl:
...
FEATURES

         MINIMIZE
                  DATATAG  NO
                  OMITTAG  NO
                  RANK     NO
                  SHORTTAG YES 
...) So as long as we use a compliant SGML processing framework,
it should work. And if one wants to export it to a more restrictive syntax
(e.g. XML) it is also very easily done automaticaly with tools like
sgmlnorm.

> not, I will have 
> to stick with the full tags.

HTH,
	Vassilii