diff --git a/400_xowa/src/gplx/xowa/htmls/minifys/XoCssMin.java b/400_xowa/src/gplx/xowa/htmls/minifys/XoCssMin.java
index d76478041..14f98f469 100644
--- a/400_xowa/src/gplx/xowa/htmls/minifys/XoCssMin.java
+++ b/400_xowa/src/gplx/xowa/htmls/minifys/XoCssMin.java
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ public class XoCssMin {
 
 			// ! in the first position of the comment means preserve
 			// so push to the preserved tokens keeping the !
-			if (token.charAt(0) == '!') {
+			if (JsString_.charAtEq(token, 0, '!')) {
 				preservedTokens.add(token);
 				css = css.replace(placeholder,  "___YUICSSMIN_PRESERVED_TOKEN_" + (preservedTokens.size() - 1) + "___");
 				continue;
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ public class XoCssMin {
 
 			// \ in the last position looks like hack for Mac/IE5
 			// shorten that to /*\*/ and the next one to /**/
-			if (token.charAt(token.length() - 1) == '\\') {
+			if (JsString_.charAtEq(token, token.length() - 1, '\\')) {
 				preservedTokens.add("\\");
 				css = css.replace(placeholder,  "___YUICSSMIN_PRESERVED_TOKEN_" + (preservedTokens.size() - 1) + "___");
 				i = i + 1; // attn: advancing the loop
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ public class XoCssMin {
 			if (token.length() == 0) {
 				startIndex = css.indexOf(placeholder);
 				if (startIndex > 2) {
-					if (css.charAt(startIndex - 3) == '>') {
+					if (JsString_.charAtEq(css, startIndex - 3, '>')) {
 						preservedTokens.add("");
 						css = css.replace(placeholder,  "___YUICSSMIN_PRESERVED_TOKEN_" + (preservedTokens.size() - 1) + "___");
 					}
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ public class XoCssMin {
 			// XO: desb42 comments this
 			while (i < css.length()) {
 				i = i + 1;
-				if (css.charAt(i - 1) == '}' && i - startIndex > linebreakpos) {
+				if (JsString_.charAtEq(css, i - 1, '}') && i - startIndex > linebreakpos) {
 					css = JsString_.slice(css, 0, i) + '\n' + JsString_.slice(css, i);
 					startIndex = i;
 				}
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ public class XoCssMin {
 				endIndex = css.indexOf(terminator, endIndex + 1);
 
 				// endIndex == 0 doesn't really apply here
-				if ((endIndex > 0) && (css.charAt(endIndex - 1) != '\\')) {// XO:found terminator; check it isn't escaped; EX: `\'`
+				if ((endIndex > 0) && JsString_.charAtEqNot(css, endIndex - 1, '\\')) {// XO:found terminator; check it isn't escaped; EX: `\'`
 					foundTerminator = true;
 					if (!(")".equals(terminator))) {// XO:cur terminator is either `'` or `"`; grab next `)`
 						endIndex = css.indexOf(")", endIndex);
diff --git a/400_xowa/tst/gplx/xowa/htmls/minifys/XoCssMinTest.java b/400_xowa/tst/gplx/xowa/htmls/minifys/XoCssMinTest.java
index 7e44b4d77..525d9bd3a 100644
--- a/400_xowa/tst/gplx/xowa/htmls/minifys/XoCssMinTest.java
+++ b/400_xowa/tst/gplx/xowa/htmls/minifys/XoCssMinTest.java
@@ -61,6 +61,16 @@ public class XoCssMinTest {
             )
         );
     }
+    @Test public void commentsEmpty() {// PURPOSE:handle empty comments; ISSUE#:741 DATE:2020-06-08
+        tstr.Test("collectComments.empty"
+            , "a /**/ b"
+            , "a b" // NOTE: `\s` instead of `\s\s` b/c of "Normalize all whitespace strings to single spaces"
+            , new TestAssert.Grp("collectComments"
+                , new TestAssert.ListEq("comments", "")
+                , new TestAssert.StringEq("css", "a /*___YUICSSMIN_PRESERVE_CANDIDATE_COMMENT_0___*/ b")
+            )
+        );
+    }
     @Test public void rgb() {
         tstr.Test("rgb.basic"  ,"rgb (128,128,128)", "#808080");
         tstr.Test("rgb.casing" ,"RgB (128,128,128)", "#808080");