(CSS editing) Ways to decrease repetition

[Ryan Williams]

Hiya,

Two things I notice myself doing a lot when producing CSS could be remedied by:

1. When the {} CSS brackets are automatically created, have an option to not automatically put a blank line break beneath the }. Often I add a new CSS rule between an existing two, and I work with a lot of code that doesn't have line breaks between each CSS rule as the 'house style'. Therefore, I have to remove them all the time.

2. If you try and add a new declaration to the start of a CSS rule by clicking next to the { and then hitting return, it does not automatically indent to match the indented declarations below. Instead, I have to manually indent it.

Minor things, but it's the finer details that make an application a joy to use.

[Gatis]

Thank you for your suggestions.

As for the first question/problem. Actually you can have the editor not to insert the line break. Go to Options => Preferences => Language Options => CSS => Rule Formating => choose "Single line"

As for your second suggestion. I think it would be a functionality that also others would benefit from, so we will try to do something about it.

[Ryan Williams]

Thanks Gatis.

I wasn't actually referring to having the whole CSS rule on one line, though. We still use the multi-line format, however often blank lines aren't left between each rule. For example:

Code: Select all

#test {
	example: test;
}
#test2 {
	example: text;
}

That's typically how it might look. However, WeBuilder automatically puts a blank line after each } so if I were to add a third rule to that I'd get this:

Code: Select all

#test {
	example: test;
}
#test3 {
	example: test;
}

#test2 {
	example: text;
}

I then have to delete that blank line, and do this whenever I add a rule between two existing rules. I also sometimes end up with a whole bunch of blank lines at the bottom as I add them and they stack up.

It's a very minor quibble, but it does cause me a lot of unnecessary backspacing. To me, adding the blank line if you want it seems the more intuitive alternative to having to delete it if you don't want it. I realise a lot of WeBuilder users have probably gotten used to it working this way though, hence suggesting it just as an option.

[Ryan Williams]

Another one:

When brace auto-completion is disabled, if you have indented declarations like this:

Code: Select all

#test {
	test: test;

... and you try to create the }, it remains tabbed like the declarations above, like this:

Code: Select all

#test {
	test: test;
	}

However, most people and other editing applications (including WeBuilder's brace auto-completion) remove the indent on the last brace automatically so it looks like this:

Code: Select all

#test {
	test: test;
}

It might be a good idea to make WeBuilder automatically remove the indentation on the last brace when brace auto-completion is disabled, or again, provide it as an option.

These changes I've suggested will allow WeBuilder to better blend into people's work habits.

[Gatis]

So, to sum up:

2. If you try and add a new declaration to the start of a CSS rule by clicking next to the { and then hitting return, it does not automatically indent to match the indented declarations below. Instead, I have to manually indent it.

Will be available in next version

1. When the {} CSS brackets are automatically created, have an option to not automatically put a blank line break beneath the }. Often I add a new CSS rule between an existing two, and I work with a lot of code that doesn't have line breaks between each CSS rule as the 'house style'. Therefore, I have to remove them all the time.

You will be able to specify the count of new lines that need to be added (the same option of CSS formatter "Add X blank lines between rules" will be used for calculating the new line count that needs to be inserted)

#test {
test: test;
}

For the last suggestion, we won't be able to do anything at the moment, because we have to implement some more general way of controlling this, because there are also other languages and language tokens except CSS and "}"