[html] HTML Button Close Window

When in the onclick attribute you do not need to specify that it is Javascript.

<button type="button" 
        onclick="window.open('', '_self', ''); window.close();">Discard</button>

This should do it. In order to close it your page needs to be opened by the script, hence the window.open. Here is an article explaining this in detail:

Click Here

If all else fails, you should also add a message asking the user to manually close the window, as there is no cross-browser solution for this, especially with older browsers such as IE 8.