diff --git a/src/htmltextview.py b/src/htmltextview.py
index 71575d894..12dfd51f1 100644
--- a/src/htmltextview.py
+++ b/src/htmltextview.py
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ class HtmlHandler(xml.sax.handler.ContentHandler):
 			if id_:
 				tag = self.textbuf.create_tag(id_)
 			else:
-				tag = self.textbuf.create_tag()
+				tag = self.textbuf.create_tag('span with no id')
 		for attr, val in [item.split(':', 1) for item in style.split(';') if len(item.strip())]:
 			attr = attr.strip().lower()
 			val = val.strip()