I always code in short tags (JSP heritage). I don't really understand why they would ever not be turned on. They also shouldn't ever be removed from the spec.
I understand that they can be turned off, and if I get some time, I'll change the example content and the htmlform views.[/quote]
Its all good I was able to make it work. Its just for the cases where a host is strict and does not allow these sorts of things...
In my case it is a state environment so things getting turned on take about 500 sheets of paper and 100's of hours of work to get a simple thing from off to on...