HTML Guides for non-space character
Learn how to identify and fix common HTML validation errors flagged by the W3C Validator — so your pages are standards-compliant and render correctly across every browser. Also check our Accessibility Guides.
The HTML specification defines a strict structure for documents: the <html> element contains a <head> and a <body>, and all visible page content must live inside the <body>. Once the browser encounters the </body> closing tag, it expects nothing but optional whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) before the closing </html> tag. Any non-space characters in that gap — whether text, HTML elements, script tags, or even stray punctuation — are considered outside the document body and trigger this validation error.
Why this matters
- Standards compliance: The HTML living standard (WHATWG) is clear that content after </body> is not valid. W3C validation will flag this as an error.
- Unpredictable rendering: Browsers use error recovery to handle misplaced content, and different browsers may handle it differently. Most will implicitly reopen the <body> and move the content inside it, but relying on this behavior is fragile and unpredictable.
- Accessibility: Screen readers and assistive technologies parse the DOM structure. Content that lands in unexpected places due to error recovery may be announced out of order or missed entirely.
- Maintainability: Stray content after </body> is often a sign of a code organization problem — a misplaced include, a template rendering issue, or an accidental paste — and cleaning it up improves long-term maintainability.
Common causes
- Accidental text or typos after the closing </body> tag.
- Script or analytics tags mistakenly placed between </body> and </html> instead of at the end of the <body>.
- Server-side template engines appending content after the body in a layout file.
- Comments or debugging output left behind after </body>.
Examples
Stray text after </body>
This triggers the validation error because the text this is invalid appears after </body>:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Content goes here.</p>
</body> this is invalid
</html>Move all content inside the <body>:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Content goes here.</p>
</body>
</html>Script placed outside the body
A common mistake is placing a <script> tag between </body> and </html>:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Main content</p>
</body>
<script src="analytics.js"></script>
</html>Place the script at the end of the <body> instead:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Main content</p>
<script src="analytics.js"></script>
</body>
</html>Stray HTML element after </body>
Sometimes an element like a <div> ends up after the body due to a template issue:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<main>Page content</main>
</body>
<div id="overlay"></div>
</html>Move it inside <body>:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<main>Page content</main>
<div id="overlay"></div>
</body>
</html>The fix is always the same: ensure that everything between </body> and </html> is either whitespace or nothing at all. All content — text, elements, scripts, and comments — belongs inside the <body> element.
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