Excess white space in replies?

[pcs163]

We've had some students reporting that when they reply in the new discussions, a TON of white space (and sometimes odd formatting) is getting added into their post. It becomes visible when they post it and have to go back in to edit it. I had this happen to me twice, as well, and in both cases there was a large amount of "junk" HTML that shouldn't have been there when I looked at the code behind the post -- all kinds of span tags. However, I have not been able to recreate the issue deliberately, and I'm not seeing a clear rhyme or reason to when the white space/"junk" tags get added.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

[gcako]

Yes --and I posted here on this. I find the white space is triggered when you try to CTL-V paste something in a reply or simply just clicking the " button.

Canvas: PLEASE DO NOT FORCE THIS UPON US NEXT MONTH.  LEAVE THE OPTION TO STICK WITH LEGACY OR ADOPT THE NEW REDESIGN UP TO EACH CLASS/INSTRUCTOR!!!

[NAshcraft]

I have the same issue of white space and junk HTML appearing in the middle of posts.  It seems to happen when I have written something and then backspace to delete it. 

[kirsten_naughto]

The excessive space also makes it extremely difficult to tell that the Reply | Mark as Read links are associated with the post above it. The white space makes it look like its associated with the post below. And since there is very little to indicate when one post ends and the next starts, this just complicates the problem even further. 

[astaley]

I, too, have noticed this same issue mostly when I paste content into the text box. One thing I tried is pasting into a Word document and then pasting back into the Canvas discussion text box. However, this is extremely time consuming! @canvas please fix this issue!

[kampbell]

Yes. I have the exact same problem. I see it in my replies as well as some (but not all) of the students. I am unable to get rid of the spaces even when I go back and edit. I, too, see the "span" words in the html, but I don't know the first thing about html or how to eliminate them.

The problem began the day the new discussions was rolled out on July 20.

[DrKellyWhite]

This has been an issue since the update to the Canvas discussion forum.  If I would have to guess, they've changed the code for the text boxes everywhere in the LMS.

The additional line breaks are a result of excessive SPAN tags in the HTML.  You can see this if you go into HTML code view of the text box.

Additional SPAN tags are inserted when copy/pasting content from any source, a Word document, the Canvas page if you (like me) tend to paste a snippet of a student's post into your reply, etc...

I observed this issue when using Firefox, so I tried Edge, but the problem did not manifest.  I have not tested other browsers, because honestly that's Instructure's job!

You can eliminate all the extra SPAN tags and additional junk code by hand in HTML code view, or use Edge.  Instructure really should test new features on a variety of browsers and under a variety of use cases before pushing a software update. 

[kirsten_naughto]

Good points, @DrKellyWhite 

I agree that these features need to be thoroughly tested before pushing a software update. I know that some institutions are willing to use the experimental features to help with testing but most of us need a solid, reliable tool. In this case, I believe they enforced the required use of this updated tool before it was truly ready for it.

In addition, while its possible for us to figure out the issues with extra tags, we don't expect our students to flip to the HTML side to remove extra span tags and whatever else is being generated on that side. They are also affected negatively by the extra white space. I know many students who will work out their reply in Word or OneNote before posting it to the discussion, especially in the post-graduate courses.

[marion_sadoux]

It drove me mad yesterday -easy fix: use the format clearner / rubber or the clear formatting function - then the span tags disapear.