When checking with WC3 Validator, errors are listed with line numbers. It would be helpful if we could turn this option on sometimes for checking/correcting problems.
PS: Might be good for js and css too.
+1 for line numbers on all 3, including custom code component windows.
I'm not sure about this one. There's very little space left with the actual setup, and I'm not 20/20 so I already asked to use larger text inside BSS. I'd prefer to have line numbering after proper multi-monitor setup. And I still love the idea of supporting an external editor via a plugin, like https://atom.io/packages/pinegrow-atom.
I guess it's less work for the developer support a proper text editor like atom.io than to add lots of features in BSS basic editor. So I'd keep the actual simple editor as it is, and add support for an external editor for those of use that need more power and editing flexibility. (as an additional bonus with atom we also get emmet, bootstrap snippets, and tons of useful plugins, for minimaps to code coloring, line numbering, advanced search and replace, etc.)
Although I agree, the space is limited in the app, I also think that line numbers don't take that much of a space. We already have the code collapsing setup so it would be easy to fit the numbers just to the left of those. We're talking about less than a 1/4 inch of space which I think would be very doable even within the app. Just my opinion, but I can't tell you how many times I wish I had line numbers in there, and it would definitely help for trying to find specific things in the code when you're cleaning it up and testing it with Validators etc.
Now, having said that, I also support the external editors setup as well. Or better yet, give us the ability to break out the parts of BSS itself into sections like Dreamweaver does, and create our own workspace. Lots of things can be done, but since I don't have any idea how far down the road any of this is, I would say line numbering would be something we could use while waiting on the rest, because I believe the rest of what you (Marrco) and I were talking about will take a lot longer to do than the line numbering would.
The error line numbers take into consideration of all the elements of a HTML page. I believe everything such as the DocType and HTML/Meta/Title/Link etc...
You'd have to consider that DocType isn't counted in the BSS app so that would be 1 thing that would through off your count. And any other multiple CSS file(s) that gets converted into a single CSS file when exported as well as any white spaces lines in the exported version of the site. Also the theme is not counted in the app but does get exported.
It would be better for you to use FireFox's or Chrome's Developer Tools (F12) on the site to correlate which lines are the errors then you can see that HTML for that line and make the reference in the app.
Saj
I agree with saj. This isn't a must have in my opinion.
saj is correct. Debug is done with ff/chrome developers tools. Or other specific tools, not inside this design and prototyping tool.
BSS can't be good at everything. My idea is that it should excel in just a few areas, and leave other parts of the design workflow (image editing, debug, advanced text editing, etc) to other specific tools.
But maybe we could demand more. Looking at the large numbers of free components downloaded (and new crappy components shared) i imagine that it has sold really tons of licenses. So I expect more developers and many new features soon.
Ok ya you convinced me and after thinking about it some more, it's actually just as easy to export it and debug it in an editor (Brackets, Dreamweaver, whatever you use). And usually I'm checking out things on the site after it's already uploaded as well so it doesn't really need to be inside of BSS. Usually the errors or problems are easily identified if you know what part of the page/section/etc. that the error belongs to. Yeah, line numbers aren't that necessary for that.
What I "would" like to see them for is CSS files and Custom Code. I don't mean normal line numbers as in being able to reference anything from any validators or anything, I just want it for ease of returning to places when you're scrolling the code lol. That part for me would be invaluable. I can't tell you how many times I have been in a custom code box that is very long, or in a CSS custom file and needing to compare to something in another custom file and lose my place! That's actually what I use line numbers for the most, ease of navigating files mostly. If there were some way to do that that would be great. They don't have to be used for anything else so the numbers don't have to coincide with each file etc. Just a line number that is only representing that page or file. Hopefully that makes sense, but what I'm trying to say is they don't have to have any "function", just are there for reference within that file only.
Thank you all for the great discussion! As mentioned, line numbers in the HTML panel wouldn't be matched to the ones that are exported, as Bootstrap Studio does quite a bit of processing and rewriting of code. It will also give people the expectation that the panel is an editor, which it is not.
But I think that it won't be difficult to add line numbers to the CSS editors for ease of navigation. These would also not match the lines in the exported files though, as the app combines multiple css blocks with the same media queries into one. Or maybe we can think of some other intuitive way to help people navigate their CSS files. One example is to apply some kind of marker to unsaved changes, so it is easier to remember what you edited last.
I like the marker idea for finding what you last edited, that would be very helpful for when you are using Undo and Redo and trying to follow your changes to know where to stop Undoing or Redoing. I don't think it will help though a lot for navigation of the file if you are trying to compare items in the file and haven't changed anything yet.
Exporting, uploading to your website and running WC3 validator with an Editor like notepad++ is probably the way to deal with this. I was using the preview website, which is very quick and easy, but probably not the best approach because of the missing line numbers. I ended up doing searches to get to the right location.
I understand the internal html is augmented when exported so that BSS internal line numbers will not match those identified by WCS using the preview website index.html<br /> I suppose I could just direct Notepad++ to the preview website and load the index.html. That would solve the problem.