Title: "/> in upper left corner
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# "/> in upper left corner

 *  [dnga](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dnga/)
 * (@dnga)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/)
 * I noticed strange characters in upper left corner of my wordpress web site, “/
   >. I did some research on this forum, and found multiple problems description
   with multiple solutions, but none of them worked for me. Disabling plugins, changing
   themes, checking header.php did not help as well. I did found few instances of
   those characters in this particular order but removing them did not fix my problem.
   Any idea what the heck is going on?
 * Web site is [http://dental-toronto.com](http://dental-toronto.com), thanks

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)

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 *  [Arty](https://wordpress.org/support/users/artodia/)
 * (@artodia)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422017)
 * It is caused by this line in header
 *     ```
       <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" />
       ```
   
 * find it in header template and replace with
 *     ```
       <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=<?php bloginfo( 'charset' ); ?>" />
       <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" />
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [dnga](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dnga/)
 * (@dnga)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422054)
 * Thanks Arty, I don’t have that line in my header.php, see below. I tried replacing
   similar two lines but still have the same problem.
    Thanks again for your help
   =====================================================================
 * _[Code moderated as per the [Forum Rules](http://codex.wordpress.org/Forum_Welcome#Posting_Code).
   Please use the [pastebin](http://wordpress.pastebin.com/)]_
 *  [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/)
 * (@rvoodoo)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422091)
 * just post the lines of code that start with
 *     ```
       <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
       <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible"
       ```
   
 * or dump your entire header.php into a pastebin as instructed above
 *  Thread Starter [dnga](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dnga/)
 * (@dnga)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422185)
 * Thanks Vodoo, sorry for pasting whole header, was not aware that is not allowed.
   
   Here are lines you asked for
 *     ```
       <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="<?php bloginfo('html_type'); ?>; charset=<?php bloginfo('charset'); ?>
       <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" />
       ```
   
 * _[Please post code snippets between backticks or use the code button.]_
 * Here is whole header, [http://pastebin.com/Z15XPVpQ](http://pastebin.com/Z15XPVpQ)
 * Thanks for your help guys
 *  [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/)
 * (@rvoodoo)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422202)
 *     ```
       <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="<?php bloginfo('html_type'); ?>" charset="<?php bloginfo('charset'); ?>" />
       <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" />
       ```
   
 * changing the 2 lines you supplied to these should sort you out. Just had some
   bad/missing symbols
 *  Thread Starter [dnga](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dnga/)
 * (@dnga)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422220)
 * Unfortunately did not help. When I put your two lines, still the same problem.
   Thanks for helping me out
 *  [Clayton James](https://wordpress.org/support/users/claytonjames/)
 * (@claytonjames)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422221)
 * Look and see if there is anything odd on line 1 in the themes index.php file.
 * While you’re there, take a look in the footer.php file. Is it full of base64 
   encoding?
 * [edit] I just realized that you mentioned changing themes made no difference.
   Are you certain that’s the case?
 *  Thread Starter [dnga](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dnga/)
 * (@dnga)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422222)
 * I don’t understand coding enough to recognize if there is something wrong, here
   is link to pastebin where I put my index.php, [http://pastebin.com/UK3kvFNR](http://pastebin.com/UK3kvFNR)
   
   Footer.php is encrypted, which I really hate. I am even thinking about ditching
   whole theme because of this encrypted footer, I don’t like when I don’t know 
   what is in there. I scanned it with TAC and it reported no problems but still.
   Here is footer.php, [http://pastebin.com/VVPrSiyk](http://pastebin.com/VVPrSiyk)
 *  [Clayton James](https://wordpress.org/support/users/claytonjames/)
 * (@claytonjames)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422225)
 * The index.php file looks okay. I only mentioned the footer to make sure that 
   you were aware of the encoding.
 * Are you completely sure that the characters remain even when you change back 
   to the twenty eleven theme? If so, you have something else going on there. Either
   something in a script, or a plugin that might be causing the problem.
 * I’m seeing this in your source code:
    `<meta name="msvalidate.01" content="<meta
   name=\"msvalidate.01\" content=\"A89C977B86DD373FFF69369458D9D84F\" />" />`
 * Note the characters on the end. ” /> (are those extra characters, or do they 
   need to be there? I’m not sure.)
 * Could this be a plugin problem, or a site verification code related error?
 * Some possibly relevant discussions: [http://wordpress.org/search/meta+name%3D%22msvalidate.01%22+++%22+%2F%3E?forums=1](http://wordpress.org/search/meta+name%3D%22msvalidate.01%22+++%22+%2F%3E?forums=1)
 * [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/appeared-on-every-page-of-my-site-need-to-remove?replies=3](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/appeared-on-every-page-of-my-site-need-to-remove?replies=3)
 *  [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/)
 * (@rvoodoo)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422227)
 * [@clayton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/clayton/), that’s definitely the
   issue. Something has been all out of whack with the metas. I fixed the other 
   one, which was screwy, but must not have been causing the issue, the one you 
   found:
 *     ```
       <meta name="msvalidate.01" content="<meta name=\"msvalidate.01\" content=\"A89C977B86DD373FFF69369458D9D84F\" />" />
       ```
   
 * should be
 *     ```
       <meta name="msvalidate.01" content="A89C977B86DD373FFF69369458D9D84F" />
       ```
   
 * BUt ultimately, this theme may be unfixable.
 * That footer.php link says it all. It’s encoded. And they say you are not allowed
   to alter it. Which is untrue. You can do anything you want in a WordPress theme.
 * Basically, looks like this is a bad theme, with shady encoded crap which is difficult
   or impossible to fix
 *  [Clayton James](https://wordpress.org/support/users/claytonjames/)
 * (@claytonjames)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422228)
 * I agree. I looked for a clean version, but with no success.
 *  Thread Starter [dnga](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dnga/)
 * (@dnga)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422230)
 * Thanks guys, I appreciate you confirming my suspicion. Who knows what they put
   in that encrypted code, if there is no monkey business it would not be encrypted.
   And it will very likely destroy WP installation if I delete it, since it happened
   to me for other theme. I wish I can buy you guys a beer, thanks again, you rock
   🙂
 * P.S. Even default Twenty Ten theme has the same problem, so it most likely corrupted
   wordpress installation, so I will have to reinstall everything
 *  [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/)
 * (@rvoodoo)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422231)
 * It’s still related to that msvalidate line of code.
 * That is the validation for Microsoft’s webmaster site, or whatever it’s called.
 * How did you verify that? If it persisting across themes, I strongly feel that
   it is related to a plugin. Deactivate whatever plugin you used to verify site
   ownership to miscrosoft
 *  Thread Starter [dnga](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dnga/)
 * (@dnga)
 * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422233)
 * You are genius, it was plugin All in One Webmaster 7.1.0. When I disabled it,
   those strange characters disappeared. Strange thing is that I have that plugin
   on other web sites and other themes and never had this issue before. Live and
   learn…
    And I deleted encrypted footer, and nothing happened, yipiiii. Thanks
   guys a bunch, you rule….
 *  [rvnder](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvnder/)
 * (@rvnder)
 * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/#post-2422328)
 * _[link moderated – please post the link into your new topic]_
    this my site… 
   i want to put 250 words description .. but it is showing 350 words description.
   i am using keyword statics plugin . but plugin is on automatic mode. i want to
   limit description to 250 words

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The topic ‘"/> in upper left corner’ is closed to new replies.

 * 16 replies
 * 6 participants
 * Last reply from: [Michael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alchymyth/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/in-upper-left-corner/page/2/#post-2422329)
 * Status: not resolved

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