Add if statement around <header> in node.tpl

There are cases where nothing is printed inside the header element, and yet the header element is printed by itself (just the empty HTML). It should be wrapped — in the node.tpl.php file — in a conditional to prevent this.

  <?php if ($title_prefix || $title_suffix || $display_submitted || $unpublished || !$page && $title): ?>
    <header>
      <?php print render($title_prefix); ?>
      <?php if (!$page && $title): ?>
        <h2<?php print $title_attributes; ?>><a href="<?php print $node_url; ?>"><?php print $title; ?></a></h2>
      <?php endif; ?>
      <?php print render($title_suffix); ?>
  
      <?php if ($display_submitted): ?>
        <p class="submitted">
          <?php print $user_picture; ?>
          <?php print $submitted; ?>
        </p>
      <?php endif; ?>
  
      <?php if ($unpublished): ?>
        <p class="unpublished"><?php print t('Unpublished'); ?></p>
      <?php endif; ?>
    </header>
  <?php endif; ?>

When does this happen? On a node page (where the title is printed outside the article tag, instead of in... where there's no title prefix or suffix (common), it's not unpublished, no user pict... and most of all, the submitted information is being withheld on a node.

So to replicate — make a content type. Do not display submit info. Create a node. Go to the node page. View source. You'll see empty <header></header>.

This: <?php if ($title_prefix || $title_suffix || $display_submitted || $unpublished || !$page && $title): ?> prevents that. Double check to make sure that conditional is well written.