html5+%3cimg+src,html - What's the valid way to include an image with no src?

I haven't done this in a while, but I had to go through this same thing once.

Is my favorite - the //:0 one implies that you'll try to make an HTTP/HTTPS connection to the origin server on port zero (the tcpmux port?) - which is probably harmless, but I'd rather not do anyways. Heck, the browser may see the port zero and not even send a request. But I'd still rather it not be specified that way when that's probably not what you mean.

Anyways, the rendering of about:blank is actually very fast in all browsers that I tested. I just threw it into the W3C validator and it didn't complain, so it might even be valid.

Edit: Don't do that; it doesn't work on all browsers (it will show a 'broken image' icon as pointed out in the comments for this answer). Use the with no src attribute. But that is INVALID HTML so pick that carefully.

Test Page showing a whole bunch of different methods: http://desk.nu/blank_image.php - served with all kinds of different doctypes and content-types. - as mentioned in the comments below, use Mark Ormston's new test page at: http://memso.com/Test/BlankImage.html