How does one add a onebox inside a list?

Contribute Feature

AI-generated summary

The discussion centers around the inability to add a onebox to a link when it’s inside a numbered list in Discourse. rokejulianlockhart initially demonstrates the issue, showing that a link with spacing around it in a list doesn’t oneboxify, appearing as plain text //example.com. Attempts to rebuild the HTML jahan_gagan – a common fix for onebox issues – are hampered by a lack of necessary permissions rokejulianlockhart.

renato explains that the Discourse markdown-it token logic treats links outside of top-level elements (like lists) as inline oneboxes. This behavior is unexpectedly different from <details> elements, which do allow oneboxes rokejulianlockhart. renato further clarifies that the markdown parser doesn’t infer nesting from HTML tags, treating raw HTML as a flat structure.

rokejulianlockhart argues that if the CSS defines the link’s container as a block element, oneboxification should occur regardless, and suggests a lack of problematic edge cases. The original post has been converted to a #feature request rokejulianlockhart due to the current limitations.

1

Despite the automatically hyperlinkified URI having enough space around it (one line) to be a block element, it doesn’t oneboxify, since:

1. Text

   https://example.com

   Text

…becomes:

  1. Text

    https://example.com

    Text

Context

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2

Try rebuilding the HTML of the post once — that often fixes issues where links don’t onebox properly:

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3

I think the spaces in front of it would make it an inline onebox and not a full one. I’m not sure I know a workaround. :thinking:

Did that work for you?

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4

@JammyDodger, that’s what I see at every instance I’ve tried thus far (about 8, in total).

@janan_gagan, I don’t possess TL4 permission anywhere… If any of you are able to rebuild the HTML5 content of my post at /1, that would confirm whether it works. However, per the aforementioned, I’m doubtful.

In the meantime, I’ve converted this to a Contribute > Feature post, since it appears to currently be impossible.

Thanks, regardless.

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5

Yes, there’s a specific logic in our markdown-it tokens that forces links to be considered inline oneboxes in cases that are not top level links (ie. not inside any list/blockquote/etc)

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6

@renato, they can still oneboxify inside <details>, though. Seems especially strange to permit that, but not any other block element. What’s the rationale?

7

There’s no explicit rationale, it’s just that raw HTML is seen by markdown-it in a flat way, it doesn’t try to infer the nesting from tags being opened/closed.

Raw Html node

Top level onebox

Raw Html node

8

@renato, seems to me that, insofar as the CSS defines the element that encapsulates a URI as a block element, oneboxification should occur; I can’t think of any problematic edge cases.