Nested lists possible in text editor?

[SamKook]

I'm trying to create a list to the right of some text, but pushing the list button seems to apply the list tag to the whole paragraph instead of where my cursor is at, which is annoyingly restrictive. I'm 5 lines in my document and it's already the 2nd major issue I've run into with that CKEditor you guys are using.
Hopefully there's a way around that and I'm just being dumb.

This is what I'm trying to do basically since I don't want to waste a whole line for a short header(Imagine the lists items are all aligned with each other, which I can't do here):
'''
My list: - Item 1
- Item 2
- etc...
'''

[dosubot[bot]]

Nested lists are supported in Trilium Notes, so you can create lists within lists (ordered or unordered) and even nest code blocks or headings inside list items. However, CKEditor (the editor Trilium uses) only allows list formatting to be applied to entire paragraphs or blocks, not inline with arbitrary text. That means you can't have something like "My list: - Item 1 - Item 2" all on the same line using the list button—the list will always start on a new line or block, and this behavior can't be changed without modifying CKEditor itself reference.

If you want a header and a list, the standard approach is to put the header on its own line, then start the list below. As a workaround, you could manually type dashes or use a table for more control, but these won't give you true list formatting or nesting. This limitation is a known aspect of CKEditor and not something Trilium can easily change reference.

If you want more details or examples of nested lists, check out the Trilium documentation on lists.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[eliandoran]

@SamKook ,

but pushing the list button seems to apply the list tag to the whole paragraph instead of where my cursor is at, which is annoyingly restrictive

Lists are block elements, so this behavior is not supported. Can you tell me an editor which has this behavior?

[SamKook]

Wow, I guess I'm asking too much, I can't actually do this in any editor, not even libreoffice writer...

Seemed like a simple enough thing, but I guess using an invisible table is the only way to actually get it done with automated list formatting, but that's impossible here since setting the borders to none makes them dotted even when the cursor is somewhere else(I would have imagined them to only visible if I'm editing the text inside of a cell or hovering), the minimum spacing inside a cell is huge(by default at least) and there is a permanently visible bar at the bottom for some reason.

At least it can be done manually by aligning things with lots of empty space so guess I'll go with that then.

[CobriMediaJulien]

U can also use indent via tab

[eliandoran]

using an invisible table is the only way to actually get it done with automated list formatting, but that's impossible here since setting the borders to none makes them dotted even when the cursor is somewhere else

This is supported, see: https://docs.triliumnotes.org/user-guide/note-types/text/tables#tables-with-invisible-borders

[SamKook]

Yeah, I've noticed the tab indent. It's a bit troublesome since it indents the whole paragraph but it is nice to have.

I guess invisible tables are impossible without reading the doc and it's not very intuitive that none doesn't work.
There doesn't seem to be a way to set the color to transparent other than typing it out and the single style doesn't exist(anymore I assume), but double works just fine for it.

I'm not a big fan of how much padding the lists add by default anyway. It's not very noticeable on their own, but with other text, it makes it way too far.
I guess I could use some global css to fix that(probably at least), but not using the list object is gonna work a whole lot better for me I feel like since it's a lot of setup to do making transparent tables and remembering to use paragraphs for each item every time I want to do this.

[CobriMediaJulien]

U could also set the border width to 0. I remember it worked. While veryfing now there is a strange behaviour that the table has a extra variable as border-bottom width that remains 1 px while the rest is set to 0. If we can manipulate this or fix it then it should work:

border-bottom-width: var(--bs-border-width);

@eliandoran Did you teak any of these variables in the Trillium theme? | Edit, sorry i just checked the old legacy theme. It was the same. I thought i was able to create a table with invisible borders setting the width to 0px

In the CKEditor test version is no border-bottom-width. Weird.