Hints breaking ordered steps

[adaptiva-phil]

Hints seem to be breaking ordered steps (1.), restarting the count after a hint. The hints also do not follow markdown indentation rules, which results in broken sequential numbers and indented images.

[clairechabas]

Hi @adaptiva-phil, thanks for raising this, we'll have a look.

Could you please share the following so we have a clear view of the issues ?

• a screenshots of the broken steps caused by the hint
• the markdown you used with a screenshot of the result you get in the editor

Many thanks

[clairechabas]

Hi @adaptiva-phil, gentle reminder for the screenshots and markdown. Without examples it's hard to clarify the problem and expected result :)

[JaniceManwiller]

My experience with lists is that you cannot add any blocks into a list item, other than a sublist (by tabbing the entry).

I have to use Shift-Enter to add a paragraph within a list item. And the spacing is bad because I have to add an extra line break for separation.

For anything else - a full-size image or a small table or any other type of block - it technically does not display within the list item. I always have to manually restart the numbering.

[clairechabas]

Hi @JaniceManwiller,
What kind of blocks/content would you need to be able to use in list items? Do you have a particular use case you've seen somewhere that you could share?

[JaniceManwiller]

Here are a few examples where I've had to do a less-than-ideal workaround.

At a high level, I want list items to work more like they do in HTML, where the list item is a container that can contain other things. Markdown unfortunately seems to assume that every list item is a single line of text.

Paragraphs in list items. In procedures or when providing definitions, I often want to add additional content in paragraphs. To do that now, I use shift-Enter to add two line breaks. In the following image, you can see that the spacing is off - the space between the added "paragraphs" is larger than the space between the list items.

Images in list items. Especially in procedures, I might want to show what the UI looks like before or after they perform a step. To do this now, I have to stop the list, add the image, and then restart the list by typing the correct next number. This topic - https://docs.tonic.ai/app/admin/tonic-user-access/single-sign-on/google - shows multiple examples of adding images in the middle of a list item.

Other items that I don't have a specific example for, but that I could see being useful, are code blocks and small tables, as well as the hints mentioned in the original post.

There are similar issues with table cells. They too should ideally be containers that can include multiple items - paragraphs, short lists, small images, small code blocks.

[clairechabas]

Hi @JaniceManwiller,
I see what you mean. You can start a list item with the number you want after a hint or other block, but it won't include the indentation indeed. If you want to maintain the indentation I'd suggest using a stepper block instead of a list.
Here's an example with a hint and an image:

What do you think?

[JaniceManwiller]

The concept is nice, but the formatting is a little heavy-handed. Are there any options to tone it down so it looks more like a regular ordered list?

I can imagine a scenario where I have multiple processes on the same topic and would only need to use the stepper block for one because the others are simpler. It would look a bit awkward to have one stepper block with ordered lists elsewhere.

This also doesn't help with bulleted lists where I might want extra paragraphs or other content. Unless the stepper block provides other numbering options - but I would guess not if it's called "stepper".

[clairechabas]

No indeed the stepper can only show numbers and with those styles.

I understand your need. Our list items don't support this at the moment I'm afraid. I'll add it to our backlog and will bring it up to the team 👍

In the meantime, as a workaround you can set the number you want on any list item and place the content you want below. You won't have the indentation but it'll allow you processes to look consistent.