9

Currently, code highlighting is turned off (see balpha's comment here). It is possible to turn it on, if we want so.

I think this would be nice to have, maybe on a per-tag basis, but turning it on is definitely the first step.

Because it is disabled site-wide, we can't force it by manually specifying the language as described here.

Caution: This vote is not about wether or not we should enable it automatically when a certain tag is used, it's wether or not we should enable code highlighting on the site.

Upvote the according answer below.

Update: I think it's pretty clear where this is going. Can anyone do this change?

11
  • Does the prettifier support the languages we would expect to see here? Such as powershell/bash/cmd/vbscript?
    – Mark Henderson Mod
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 7:50
  • 2
    btw, if I want code highlighting, but only if it's explicit turned on (with the <!-- --> syntax), should I add a 3rd option, or vote for "yes"?
    – Mark Henderson Mod
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 7:52
  • 1
    Vote Yes. We will get to the tags-thing later ;). Almost all languages are in the prettifier. Powershell = C#, rest of them are there.
    – Bart De Vos
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 7:55
  • 3
    @MarkHenderson Totally agree, I'm only voting yes to get that option, do not want automatic anything. =]
    – Chris S
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 14:16
  • 1
    @MarkHenderson (or anyone else who has used the highlighting features on other sites) -- Is there an equivalent <!-- stop highlighting my file you're doing it wrong! --> tag?
    – voretaq7
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 15:58
  • @voretaq7, see stackoverflow.com/editing-help#syntax-highlighting. The answer seems to be <!-- language: lang-none -->.
    – Zoredache
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 16:41
  • @Zoredache disgusting, but acceptable. I have no objection to syntax highlighting as long as we can make it stop if it's screwing up :)
    – voretaq7
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 16:52
  • 1
    @voretaq7 Or if it's off by default and needs to be manually turned on with the html comment?
    – Shane Madden
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 19:40
  • @ShaneMadden also acceptable. I'd like stuff like shell scripts to get auto-highlighted, but if it's a choice between "On by default and has to be turned off" or "off by default and has to be turned on" I'd prefer off by default.
    – voretaq7
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 19:42
  • @voretaq7 Indeed - and non-insane coloring for some of the common config file types we see would be a nice wishlist item.
    – Shane Madden
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 19:49
  • 2
    @ShaneMadden Most of this would of course be moot if people INDENTED THEIR {CODE, CONFIG FILES} :-)
    – voretaq7
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 19:53

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
25

Yes, I want code highlighting.

This has been enabled, and at this time these tags inherited syntax highlighting and have it enabled.

The tags below have inherited code highlighting but it is off by default.

Moderators can configure (include turning highlighting off) syntax highlighting for a tag on the tag info page.

9
  • 7
    Someone downvoted this option -_-' Be sure to only count the upvotes please.
    – Kenny Rasschaert
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 11:36
  • Looks like the consensus is "turn it on", so it's been turned on. Moderators can now configure which tags get syntax highlighting, 74 tags are already configured for it.
    – Kevin Montrose
    Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 18:43
  • Ok, can one of our mods get some serious mass-disable going on the tag set? A ton of these tags are non-applicable, and there's some strange results.
    – Shane Madden
    Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 19:23
  • @ShaneMadden: That was caused by the iphone tag having default code highlighting.
    – user9517 Mod
    Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 19:31
  • @Iain Yup, and we don't get a lot of Objective-C questions here - a small handful of auto-highlighted tags might make sense (database tags, scripting language tags), but for the most part I think we'll need to stick with manual.
    – Shane Madden
    Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 19:34
  • Indeed. Manual looks like the best for now. Thanks @KevinMontrose!
    – Bart De Vos
    Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 19:40
  • 1
    Either I am getting colorblind or the code highlighting does not deserve its name - the changes in color nuances on keywords are marginal and hardly distinguishable (at least on my screen). Are there personal settings to change the color scheme for highlighting?
    – the-wabbit
    Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 22:24
  • 1
    @Iain Mind turning it off for the ios tag, too? It means a different thing here than it does on SO.
    – Shane Madden
    Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 23:00
  • 3
    @syneticon-dj The repainting of our CSS is a subject for a future debate. I DEMAND EVERYTHING BE POLKA-DOTTED!
    – voretaq7 Mod
    Commented Feb 8, 2012 at 5:38
3

No, I don't want code highlighting.

3
  • I think I initial submitted the request to have it disabled. meta.serverfault.com/questions/883/… I think it was more annoying then useful.
    – Zoredache
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 16:40
  • 1
    @Zordache This was back in 2010, when there was no option to manually choose it, it was always tied to a tag. This is no longer true. See: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/78363/…. This vote is not about tying it to a tag and making it automatic, only to make it possible to do a manual override.
    – Bart De Vos
    Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 16:56
  • @Zoredache: Asked it over at m.SO: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/120089/… I think we can be certain that if no tags are tied to a language, nothing will happen. The behavior of this feature has changed since we asked to disable it
    – Bart De Vos
    Commented Jan 24, 2012 at 7:53

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