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On Ask Ubuntu we have a lot of questions and answers that include multiple lines of terminal output which is best handled by using code fences. Without formatting, this information is difficult to parse and it makes the content much more difficult to read.

Currently our community "Markdown help" page has the instructions for how to use code fences hidden behind a "show more" link.

My primary suggestion is that that we do away with the "show more" link so that this information is not hidden by default. This will make the information more readily accessible. Otherwise, it is very easy to miss.

The help page could be improved further if we could also show examples of the rendered output after the example markdown input, similar to our "Formatting" help page.

Ideally, I think that these two different help pages should eventually be consolidated. Several items are duplicated on both pages and it would be more consistent to have a single page for formatting and markdown help and examples.

"show more" link, hidden

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Workaround for the info on fenced code blocks being hidden behind the jump: Go to https://askubuntu.com/editing-help#code (linking directly to section in question). All section links in that page expand the relevant section if possible.

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Nmath, your suggestion is nice. But I am not sure if the moderators can edit the content in https://askubuntu.com/editing-help and https://askubuntu.com/help/formatting.

I have another suggestion. We can post an FAQ post about formatting in Ask Ubuntu Meta. Something similar to this: How do I format my code blocks?

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    One already got tried meta.askubuntu.com/questions/89/… the problem with meta posts is they get lost over time so not many people read them. You could add a new answer about code formatting to give it a bump.
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 12:22
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    You are correct that moderators cannot edit those articles in the help center. It's still a valid feature request though.
    – Dan
    Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 12:36
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    we can tag this post with status-review to get staff to consider it. But let's wait a week or two for them to fix the review queue bugs first ;)
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 16:15
  • @MarkKirby The post which you shared is more of a style guide than compared to help-center style article and it does not have the FAQ tag. I feel creating a new question would be better.
    – Random Person
    Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 18:06
  • @Dan I certainly agree that Nmath's feature request is a valid and good one :)
    – Random Person
    Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 18:06

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