Apologies if this is a massively ignorant question, but isn't the <i> tag an inline text span? In which case, isn't it wrong to have it be empty? The i el

Apologies if this is a massively ignorant question, but isn't the <i> tag an inline text span? In which case, isn't it wrong to have it be empty? The i element represents a span of text offset from its surrounding content without conveying any extra emphasis or importance, and for which the conventional typographic presentation is italic text; for example, a taxonomic designation, a technical term, an idiomatic phrase from another language, a thought, or a ship name. http://www.w3.org/TR/html-markup/i.html http://www.w3.org/TR/html-markup/i.html Using it without text strikes me as a hack, and one that is hostile to usability, among other problems. I understand why it would work, but it's abusing the technology as far as I can tell. Since I've seen this in at least two comments now, can somebody explain to me why it's not considered an anti-pattern in 2016? [edit: formatting]