Title: Code start tag error
Last modified: September 7, 2018

---

# Code start tag error

 *  Resolved [marieteather](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marieteather/)
 * (@marieteather)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/code-start-tag-error/)
 * Hi,
 * Could someone tell me what is wrong with this code, please. It looks ok on my
   site but I am getting a red error message in the html editor.
 * <div class=”wp-block-image”><figure class=”alignright is-resized”><figcaption
   ><span style=”font-family: Montserrat; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400;”>Marie
   Teather, <br/>Owner and Managing Editor, Olive Street Editorial</figcaption></
   figure></div>
 * The error message says: Tag must be paired, missing: </span> start tag match 
   failed [ span style=”font-family: Montserrat; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400;”
   > ] on line 1
 * Thanks
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fcode-start-tag-error%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [Howdy_McGee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/howdy_mcgee/)
 * (@howdy_mcgee)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/code-start-tag-error/#post-10668235)
 * The error states:
 * > Tag must be paired, missing: </span>
 * So what we’re looking for in the code block is an open <span> without a closing
   </span> tag. If we format and indent the code so it’s easier to read:
 *     ```
       <div class="wp-block-image">
       	<figure class="alignright is-resized">
       		<figcaption>
       			<span style="font-family: Montserrat; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400;">
       				Marie Teather, <br/>
       				Owner and Managing Editor, Olive Street Editorial
       		</figcaption>
       	</figure>
       </div>
       ```
   
 * We can see directly inside the `figcaption` tag is an opening span but no closing
   span.
 *  Thread Starter [marieteather](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marieteather/)
 * (@marieteather)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/code-start-tag-error/#post-10668267)
 * Thanks for explaining that – but I’m still not quite getting it. :/
 * The figcaption looks closed to me. I see the </figcaption>
 * Do I add a </span> ? I tried that earlier but no joy then….
 *  [Howdy_McGee](https://wordpress.org/support/users/howdy_mcgee/)
 * (@howdy_mcgee)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/code-start-tag-error/#post-10668295)
 * You would need to add a closing span `</span>` – post the full code and we’ll
   let you know what went wrong.
 *  Thread Starter [marieteather](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marieteather/)
 * (@marieteather)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/code-start-tag-error/#post-10668954)
 * I fixed it!
 * Thanks so much – spacing it out like you suggested really helped.
 * 🙂

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Code start tag error’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [code](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/code/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [marieteather](https://wordpress.org/support/users/marieteather/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/code-start-tag-error/#post-10668954)
 * Status: resolved

## Topics

### Topics with no replies

### Non-support topics

### Resolved topics

### Unresolved topics

### All topics