diff --git a/src/Azos/Text/TagParsingUtils.cs b/src/Azos/Text/TagParsingUtils.cs
index c90168fb7..a430d7cf0 100644
--- a/src/Azos/Text/TagParsingUtils.cs
+++ b/src/Azos/Text/TagParsingUtils.cs
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@ internal Segment(bool isTag, int idxs, int idxe, string content)
       public readonly bool IsTag;
       public readonly int IdxStart;
       public readonly int IdxEnd;
-      public int Length => IdxEnd - IdxStart;
-
+      public int Length => 1 + IdxEnd - IdxStart;
       public readonly string Content;
     }
 
@@ -83,7 +82,7 @@ public static IEnumerable<Segment> ParseSegments(this IEnumerable<char> source,
           {
             if (buf.Length > 0)
             {
-              yield return new Segment(false, idxs, idx, buf.ToString());
+              yield return new Segment(false, idxs, idx - 1, buf.ToString());
               buf.Clear();
             }
             isTag = true;
@@ -161,7 +160,7 @@ public static IEnumerable<Tag> ParseTags(this IEnumerable<Segment> source, strin
     /// <summary>
     /// Expands HTML content by invoking a function to build tag content into a string builder
     /// </summary>
-    public static StringBuilder ExpandHtmlTags(this IEnumerable<char> source, Action<Tag, StringBuilder> fTagExpander, string tagPragma = "@")
+    public static StringBuilder ExpandHtmlTags(this IEnumerable<char> source, Action<StringBuilder, Tag> fTagExpander, string tagPragma = "@")
     {
       fTagExpander.NonNull(nameof(fTagExpander));
       var spans = source.ParseSegments('<', '>');
@@ -170,8 +169,8 @@ public static StringBuilder ExpandHtmlTags(this IEnumerable<char> source, Action
       var result = new StringBuilder(1024);
       foreach (var tag in tags)
       {
-        if (tag.Segment.IsTag)
-          fTagExpander(tag, result);
+        if (tag.Segment.IsTag && tag.Data != null)
+          fTagExpander(result, tag);
         else
           result.Append($"<{tag.Segment.Content}>");
       }
diff --git a/src/testing/Azos.Tests.Nub/Parsing/TagParsingTests.cs b/src/testing/Azos.Tests.Nub/Parsing/TagParsingTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bd7a26400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/testing/Azos.Tests.Nub/Parsing/TagParsingTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*<FILE_LICENSE>
+ * Azos (A to Z Application Operating System) Framework
+ * The A to Z Foundation (a.k.a. Azist) licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+ * See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+</FILE_LICENSE>*/
+
+using System.Linq;
+using Azos.Scripting;
+using Azos.Text;
+
+namespace Azos.Tests.Nub.Parsing
+{
+  [Runnable]
+  public class TagParsingTests
+  {
+
+    [Run]
+    public void ParseSegments_00()
+    {
+      var got = "".ParseSegments().ToArray();
+      Aver.AreEqual(0, got.Length);
+
+      got = ((string)null).ParseSegments().ToArray();
+      Aver.AreEqual(0, got.Length);
+
+      got = "   ".ParseSegments().ToArray();
+      Aver.AreEqual(1, got.Length);
+      Aver.IsFalse(got[0].IsTag);
+      Aver.AreEqual("   ", got[0].Content);
+      Aver.AreEqual(0, got[0].IdxStart);
+      Aver.AreEqual(2, got[0].IdxEnd);
+      Aver.AreEqual(3, got[0].Length);
+    }
+
+
+    [Run]
+    public void ParseSegments_01()
+    {
+      var got = "How is <monster> doing?".ParseSegments().ToArray();
+
+      got.See();
+
+      Aver.AreEqual(3, got.Length);
+
+      Aver.IsFalse(got[0].IsTag);
+      Aver.AreEqual("How is ", got[0].Content);
+      Aver.AreEqual(0, got[0].IdxStart);
+      Aver.AreEqual(6, got[0].IdxEnd);
+      Aver.AreEqual(7, got[0].Length);
+
+      Aver.IsTrue(got[1].IsTag);
+      Aver.AreEqual("monster", got[1].Content);
+      Aver.AreEqual(7, got[1].IdxStart);
+      Aver.AreEqual(15, got[1].IdxEnd);
+      Aver.AreEqual(9, got[1].Length);//with < >
+
+      Aver.IsFalse(got[2].IsTag);
+      Aver.AreEqual(" doing?", got[2].Content);
+      Aver.AreEqual(16, got[2].IdxStart);
+      Aver.AreEqual(22, got[2].IdxEnd);
+      Aver.AreEqual(7, got[2].Length);
+    }
+
+  }
+}