Use descendant invalidation set for :empty pseudo class. On success, you will see a series of "PASS" messages, followed by "TEST COMPLETE". PASS getComputedStyle(empty, '').backgroundColor is green PASS internals.updateStyleAndReturnAffectedElementCount() is 2 PASS getComputedStyle(empty, '').backgroundColor is transparent PASS getComputedStyle(notEmpty, '').backgroundColor is transparent PASS internals.updateStyleAndReturnAffectedElementCount() is 1 PASS getComputedStyle(notEmpty, '').backgroundColor is green PASS successfullyParsed is true TEST COMPLETE