Looking at MDL-35370 prompted me to review all the places where the 'get_matching_answer' function was used in various question types, which found several issues with blank answers, not just in the Cloze qtype.
The specific thing I want to ask about here is for the shortanswer question type.
Suppose you have a short-answer question in deferred feedback behaviours, and you leave the input box blank and click Submit all and finish.
At the moment, as part of the feedback, the input box gets a red background and the red cross appears (assuming the 'Correctness' display option is on). This happens, despite the fact that the question state is 'Not answered'. The state is not 'Incorrect'.
I think it would be better to leave the input box with a while background in this case.
Does anyone have a different opinion?
Current display of an unanswered question:
Proposed display: