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wcamp
Inspiring
February 27, 2023
Answered

What causes this new colored dot to appear in the source code?

  • February 27, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 5061 views

Hi, all:

 

I see a new thing happening lately (running DW 21.2 on Mac OS Monterey).

While a page is open in DW, I find that sometimes, when I delete a related file in the list of local files, a strange colorful dot appears on the page's source code. (See my first attachment that shows what appeared when I made four repetitive deletions for testing purposes.)

 

The effect it causes can be seen in the next attachment.

 

I want to prevent DW from creating these colorful dots in the source code that aren't easy to spot. They may be on saved pages without me realizing that they're there.

 

I tried copying/pasting on in the "Find field but DW doesn't recognize them as a character.

 

Have you seen these occurrences? Is there a way to prevent them? How can I find them on saved pages?

 

Wondering Warren

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Nancy OShea

    Hi:

     

    I tried it twice on a new blank page. Both attempts created that red dot.

     

    I'll now try chatting with a technician using virtual assistant. . . Stay tuned.


    Do not talk to the Chat Bot.  In the Chat box type AGENT follwed by ENTER key.

    Wait for a human.

     

    2 replies

    Nancy OShea
    Nancy OShea
    Community Expert
    February 27, 2023

    Never seen this either. 

     

    Are you copying & pasting content from other apps without stripping out unwanted junk code?

     

    When pasting from other apps, use Edit > Paste Special > Text Only or Text with Structure.

     

    Hope that helps.

     

    Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
    W
    wcampAuthor
    Inspiring
    February 27, 2023

    Hi, Nancy:

     

    I'm careful with pasting text. These instances occur when I'm cleaning house or deleting unwanted files.

    Have you tried the TEST delete that I described?

     

    Just wondering. . .

    W
    wcampAuthor
    Inspiring
    March 1, 2023

    It is a character coding issue. The invisible squares can be various different chatacter values not able to be translated based on the current character version being used.
    From an app to app basis it will be settings that differ between them as well as the OS and if your pasting from a website for example of code and it's encoding vs the encoding you have in your code. In the latter cases things like " will also render differently as another example.
    The most common would be <meta charset="UTF-8" />  but if a site is set to run differently you will see things like you are.


    Thanks for weighing in, Liam.

    I'm afraid that I don't understand what you're describing or suggesting. Would you please clarify this for me?

     

    Thanks, in advance.

     

    And is there something I need to do to prevent these dots from popping up? No matter which page (of my site's 450 pages) I have open, Liam, I can cause a colored dot to appear when I attempt to delete an unrelated file (whether it's an .HTML, .php, .jpg, .pdf, .webp, etc.).

     

    How do I prevent upcoming file deletions from causing these unwanted colored dots to appear?

    B
    Ben M
    Community Expert
    February 27, 2023

    I've personally never seen this happen on my DW mac version. How are you deleting the related file? What exact steps are you taking? Ie: Are you looking at the file explorer and deleting it? Are you deleting it via the Mac finder? Was the file in any way related to the code it is being inserted into?

    W
    wcampAuthor
    Inspiring
    February 27, 2023

    Hi, Ben:

     

    After reading your e-reply, I did a TEST delete, as follows.

     

    1. A page was already open in Code view. The blinking white cursor line was present at the last active location. It doesn't matter where.

     

    2. I selected a sample file from the Local list: my 404 page.

     

    3. With it selected, I deleted that file. When I deleted it, a colored dot appeared next to the blinking cursor character.

     

    It's that easy to create! Try it and let me/us know if it happens to you on your Mac.

     

    I seldom notice that I created those colored dots during my workflow. I hope to learn how to prevent such occurrences in the future, Ben. What do you suggest?

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