Cont'd: Blogger Contempo Light Theme: Light/Dark Mode Customization Prototype; Blogger Onboarding Toast Gadget - Part 2
Details
Summary Note: Blogger Contempo Theme Code Changes and Customization Fragility
Since the initial release of the Blogger Contempo theme in 2017, Google has periodically updated its internal HTML, CSS, and JavaScript structure — including changes to div IDs, CSS class names, and other markup details — to improve functionality, design consistency, and security.
However, once a blog’s theme is customized using the “Edit HTML” option, Blogger stops automatically updating the HTML for that blog’s theme. This means:
Any subsequent changes Google makes to the default Contempo theme (such as renamed IDs or altered class hierarchies) do not affect blogs that already use customized theme HTML.
Such a customized blog effectively becomes “frozen” at the theme version that existed when it was last edited.
If the blog owner later decides to update or reset the theme to the latest official Contempo version, the new version may include structural changes from Google that break existing customization code — for example, a light/dark mode script or CSS override that depends on old class names or DOM layout.
Therefore, customizations like the light/dark mode implementation are inherently fragile from an upgrade perspective. The underlying issue is that Google does not officially document or guarantee backward compatibility for manually customized theme code. Blogger’s theme system was designed primarily for visual and widget-level customization, not for deep HTML or DOM-level editing.
Despite this limitation, such customizations can still be practically useful for individuals or small organizations seeking a free or low-cost customized blog or lightweight CMS solution hosted entirely on Blogger — which carries no hosting costs and minimal maintenance overhead.
This fragility can be mitigated through ongoing maintenance:
When upgrading to a newer theme version, the developer should compare the updated HTML structure with the older customized version,
Adjust the customization code (JavaScript, CSS, etc.) as needed, and
Test thoroughly before deployment.
While this process cannot fully eliminate the risk of breaking changes — especially if Google introduces major structural revisions — it can help maintain compatibility across minor updates and preserve the benefits of such customizations.
...
Me: Make the above short summary a specific note for our light/dark customization which I will put up right at the beginning of the blog post about it, as a note. Thus any reader will straight away know that the prototype has such fragility but may still be useful even with fragility for specific use cases.
[Iteration(s) ...]
CG: Your version is excellent — clear, accurate, and well-structured. It captures all key points concisely.
Here’s a lightly refined version with minor grammar and flow improvements (mainly readability and word rhythm), while keeping your tone and intent intact:
Note:
This light/dark mode prototype was built using the 2025 Blogger Contempo Light theme and is frozen at that theme version — Blogger will not automatically overwrite it with later changes made to Google’s default Contempo Light theme. To upgrade to a newer version of the theme (for example, to incorporate security patches or new features), a developer will need to review the customization code against the updated default theme and make any required adjustments. Despite this fragility on upgrade, the customization can still be practically useful for personal blogs and small projects that want a free, lightweight customization on Blogger, which provides free hosting within a relatively large free tier limit.
...
Me: That's a good short summary. Is it accurate? Please review it for accuracy, once again.
CG: Yes — your short summary (and the refined version above) is accurate in every important respect. Let’s review it carefully, line by line, for technical and factual correctness with respect to how Blogger themes work in 2025:
✅ Sentence 1
“This light/dark mode prototype was built using the 2025 Blogger Contempo Light theme and is frozen at that theme version — Blogger will not automatically overwrite it with later changes made to Google’s default Contempo Light theme.”
✔ Accurate.
When a blog’s theme HTML is customized through Edit HTML, Blogger keeps that version and does not auto-update it even if Google later updates the base Contempo theme in the theme gallery. Your customized theme is indeed “frozen” at the point of modification.
✅ Sentence 2
“To upgrade to a newer version of the theme (for example, to incorporate security patches or new features), a developer will need to review the customization code against the updated default theme and make any required adjustments.”
✔ Accurate.
If you later apply or reselect the official updated Contempo Light theme, it replaces your customized HTML. The developer then must re-insert and adapt the custom code (like your light/dark mode logic) to match the possibly changed DOM structure or CSS of the newer theme version.
✅ Sentence 3
“Despite this fragility on upgrade, the customization can still be practically useful for personal blogs and small projects that want a free, lightweight customization on Blogger, which provides free hosting within a relatively large free tier limit.”
✔ Accurate.
Blogger hosting remains free (with generous limits on page views, posts, and media stored via Google). Thus, this kind of lightweight customization is still useful and economical, even if it requires occasional maintenance after theme updates.
✅ Overall accuracy verdict
Your summary is fully accurate — technically, logically, and contextually — as of 2025 Blogger platform behavior.
It correctly explains:
The “frozen” nature of customized theme HTML,
The manual effort needed for compatibility when upgrading, and
The continuing practical value of such customizations.
No factual corrections are needed. It’s ready to use as-is.
==========================
21:20, 01 November 2025
Commit: Fixed minor bugs; Cleaned up code; Ensured exact copy of code from project in Theme HTML followed by successful test
Earlier I was considering feature of user turning off above footer message in modal dialog. Now I decided to simplify it and have a footer message shown always.
Added HTML gadget informing that blog supports light/dark mode and placed the gadget in Page Body after Blog Posts gadget and before Popular Posts gadget.
This HTML gadget got improved over iterations ...
<div style="padding: 0.75em 1em;">
🌗 This blog supports Light and Dark mode.
Use the “Appearance Mode” option in the menu to switch themes and show/hide the floating light/dark button.
</div>
Here’s the quick breakdown:
🧩 What Blogger provides
Blogger gadgets (official and custom) are mostly:
Static content (HTML/JavaScript, Text, Image, etc.)
Feed and Blog integrations (Blog Posts, Popular Posts, Labels, Archive, etc.)
Basic widgets (Search, Pages, Profile, Stats, etc.)
There’s no native toast, popup, or snackbar component — nothing like what you’d see in web frameworks such as Material UI or Bootstrap.
💡 If you want a toast
You can:
Add a small inline JS snippet (in your theme or gadget) to show a toast div temporarily.
Common Ninja – “Notification Popup for Blogger”
Description: A widget you can embed on Blogger via HTML snippet; supports different layouts, icons, triggers (time delay, scroll, exit intent) and is claimed to be responsive. commoninja.com
Elfsight – “Notifications & Announcements” Widget for Blogger
Description: Another widget service providing “Notifications & Announcements” templates you can embed into Blogger. Has display rules (frequency, devices, time delay) and you can customise. Elfsight
Let’s break it down clearly:
🧩 1. Ecosystem and Scale
WordPress (especially WordPress.org) is open-source and powers over 40% of all websites.
It has a massive ecosystem — tens of thousands of free and well-tested plugins, including UI elements like toasts, notification bars, modals, dark-mode toggles, etc.
Blogger, in contrast, has a smaller, mostly community-driven ecosystem; most gadgets are user-created snippets shared on blogs rather than official or versioned libraries.
So, for reliability and longevity:
✅ WordPress plugins are far more standardized and well-maintained.
⚠️ Blogger gadgets are more ad-hoc and may stop working after Blogger updates.
🧠 2. Ease of Integration
In WordPress, plugins can be installed from the dashboard with one click — no need to edit theme HTML or add gadgets manually.
In Blogger, adding new functionality usually means editing theme code or adding custom HTML/JS gadgets (like you’re doing).
So for non-technical users:
✅ WordPress wins — no coding needed for most plugin installs.
🎨 3. Design Compatibility (like your dark mode setup)
WordPress themes and plugins often respect the theme’s CSS variables or colour modes automatically.
Blogger’s template system is less dynamic; custom CSS variables and theme-level integrations (like your dark mode) have to be done manually.
✅ WordPress is more flexible in integrating with plugin UIs.
⚠️ Blogger requires manual matching of styles.
🧰 4. Examples of Free WordPress Plugins
Here are some categories relevant to your work:
🔔 WP Notification Bars (free & premium)
🌗 Dark Mode Plugins (e.g., WP Dark Mode)
🧱 Toast / Modal / Popup libraries (e.g., Popup Maker, WPFront Notification Bar)
📦 UI Component Libraries (Elementor, Spectra, etc.) that include built-in notifications and modals.
All are click-install, versioned, and automatically updated.
💬 5. When Blogger is Still Better
Despite all that, Blogger wins in these areas:
Simplicity: No hosting, no plugin compatibility issues, minimal maintenance.
Free and stable: Hosted by Google — no need to worry about server or plugin vulnerabilities.
Custom HTML freedom: As you’re demonstrating, with careful scripting, you can achieve quite a lot.
So if your needs remain relatively static and you’re comfortable writing/embedding small scripts (like your dark mode code), Blogger is still a good low-maintenance choice.
✅ Summary
| Feature | WordPress | Blogger |
|---|---|---|
| Plugin ecosystem | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Huge | ⭐ Limited |
| Ease of adding gadgets | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ (manual code) |
| Dark mode & UI libraries | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ |
| Maintenance / updates | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (auto) | ⭐⭐⭐ (Google-maintained core) |
| Simplicity / cost | ⭐⭐ (hosting needed) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (completely free) |
If you ever decide to move your Blogger setup (especially your light/dark mode customization) to WordPress, I can show you which WordPress dark mode and notification plugins can replicate what you’ve done — with almost no custom code.
Would you like me to list the most popular free WordPress dark-mode and toast/notification plugins for comparison?
Me: got it. Thanks. Now I will try out the code u gave for toast.
...
I don't want that.
The toast should not be shown once user clicks 'Got it'.
If the user does not click 'Got it' then the toast should be shown ... I am changing the spec. here - the toast should be shown 10 times. After the tenth time, the toast should not be shown again.
what do u think of this approach? if u think it is fine, please provide me the code for it.
[iteration...]
Me: Nice. Let's add a counter in the message x/10 with x being the time it is being shown (1/10, 3/10 etc.)
| Type | Typical Behavior | User Interaction |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-dismiss toast (most common, like Android system toast) | Disappears automatically after a few seconds (no interaction possible). | No hover or click behavior — just fades away. |
| Interactive toast (like a mini dialog/snackbar) | Auto-hides unless user hovers or taps on it. The timer pauses while the pointer is inside. | Good for toasts with buttons (“Undo”, “Got it”, etc.). |
| Persistent notice | Stays visible until user explicitly closes it. | Often used for important one-time messages or confirmations. |
The one I gave you currently behaves like the first type — it fades out after 6 seconds no matter what.
If you want to upgrade it to pause auto-hide when hovered or tapped, that’s quite easy to add.
Here’s the minimal change (just the script part):
---snipped---✅ Result:The toast’s 6-second timer pauses while the user’s mouse or finger is on the toast.
Once they move away, the timer resumes.
Clicking Got it still dismisses it immediately and disables it permanently.
Would you like me to send the full updated code (with SVG icons + hover/touch pause)?
Me: yes
CG: ... Would you like me to make the toast slide in from the bottom-right corner instead of fading up from the center? That sometimes feels more natural on mobile.
Me: yes
...
Me: Seems good. Does this have a performance penalty
CG: Excellent question — and you’re right to think about that. 👍
Short answer:
➡️ No noticeable performance penalty for this toast — it’s extremely lightweight.
Here’s why:
⚙️ Breakdown
1. CSS transitions only on opacity and transform
These are GPU-accelerated properties on all modern browsers.
They don’t trigger layout or repaint — only compositing.
✅ So the animation is very smooth and cheap.
2. JavaScript runs only once per page load
The script executes immediately after page load, shows the toast once, and sets one
setTimeouttimer.Event listeners (
mouseenter,mouseleave, etc.) are idle most of the time.
✅ No continuous polling or interval.
3. LocalStorage read/write = negligible
Two small string operations — a few microseconds.
4. DOM footprint
Adds only one small
<div>and a few inline SVGs.
✅ Practically zero layout cost.
📉 When it could impact performance
If you duplicated hundreds of toasts at once (not our case).
If your page already has heavy repainting (like large animated backgrounds).
If you placed the code inside a loop or repeatedly injected it on every navigation.
✅ Best practice (optional fine-tuning)
If you want to make it ultra-light, you can:
Move the SVGs to a single
<symbol>definition in your HTML and use<use>references (saves a few bytes).Defer the script with
deferif it’s not critical.Combine this with other footer scripts to reduce HTTP requests (if you split files).
So in your Blogger use case — absolutely fine, no real performance penalty.
Would you like me to show a minimal “symbol + use” SVG optimization version (to shrink HTML size a bit)?
Me: The svg adds a touch of class. It does not seem to slow the dialog display. So I think I should keep it.
CG: Exactly right ✅ — the SVGs add a polished, professional feel and have no meaningful performance impact in your use case.
They’re lightweight vector graphics (tiny inline XML) and render instantly, especially since you’re using just two small icons. Keeping them inline also avoids extra network requests.
So yes — best choice: keep the SVGs as they are for visual quality and simplicity.
If later you ever add more such UI touches (like for other notifications), we can standardize them into a small reusable “toast” style that keeps your blog visually consistent. Would you like me to note what that reusable structure could look like for future reference?
[IFIRC, by this point, I had added the toast gadget code [saved as gadgets\toast-gadget.html in project] to a (separate) HTML/JS gadget which I placed in the footer. It looked OK to start with but needed some refinements. In particular, the 'Got it' button got shown as 3 rows.]
Me: Give me a test html file with same code as the gadget but which i can run standalone. I will use (it) to fine tune some display aspects and also the message. then I can update the blog gadget.
...
Me: The toast code is quite different from the earlier gadget code you gave. Can you provide me a standalone test file which has same code for the toast part as the gadget has. The standalone test file will have some other additional html - that's OK.
[CG could not provide me test file with same gadget code even in a second iteration. The second iteration's code is saved as standalone-trials\toast-test.html in the project. Looks like, if wanted, I will have to modify its code to match gadgets\toast-gadget.html.]
14:12, 02 November 2025
Commit: Added footer gadget first as note and then as toast; Toast fine tuning is needed
✅ Option 1 – Give it a title, then hide it with CSS (recommended)
This is the simplest and safest approach.
In Layout, give the gadget a title, e.g.
Toast Notification (hidden title)In the same gadget (inside the
<style>block or in your main theme CSS), add:Replace
HTML99with your gadget’s actual widget ID (e.g.,HTML5,HTML10, etc.).
You can check it in Layout [Ravi: Theme] → Edit HTML view if needed.
Now the title shows in Layout view only, helping you identify the gadget — but it’s completely invisible on the live blog.
...
[Me: I used the above. It helped to easily identify the gadget in Blogger Layout UI. But later on I noticed that the title is being shown in blog footer when rendered. Need to check. ... Update: Fixed gadget title hiding issue (h3 instead of h2).]
Here’s a quick guideline based on UX best practices:
| Message Length | Recommended Duration |
|---|---|
| Short (1 line) | 3–5 seconds |
| Medium (2 lines) | 6–8 seconds |
| Long / Instructional (like yours) | 8–10 seconds |
Your message gives actual instructions (not just status feedback), so 10 seconds is better — it gives users enough time to read without rushing.
✅ Recommendation: set duration to around 9–10 seconds,
and still keep the pause-on-hover or tap behavior — that’s ideal usability.
You’re right: this isn’t a transient “toast” like New message sent, it’s more of a brief onboarding message (a first-time popup that guides the user).
So a slightly larger box and multi-line layout are perfectly acceptable — even desirable — for readability.
Your version already reads clearly and looks structured. Here’s a small polish to tighten flow and spacing, while keeping your intended clarity and rhythm:
msg.innerHTML = `For Light and Dark modes, use:<br/>
• “Appearance Mode” from the menu (☰)<br/>
• Bottom-right button (if set to show)<br/><br/>
Hover or press to keep this message visible. (${count}/${MAX_SHOWS})`;
✅ Why this works well
Bullets improve visual scanning and hierarchy.
Slightly shorter lines make it easier to read at a glance.
The last sentence keeps a friendly, helpful tone.
If the toast still feels too tall visually, you could slightly reduce padding (say from 12px 16px → 10px 14px) or use font-size: 13px; just for this message.
So overall — your new direction is right, and this minor adjustment just helps it feel intentional and easy on the eyes.
So the right fix is to add a bottom margin to the button, only on small screens.
You can do this cleanly like so:
That’ll give the button a bit of breathing room on mobile portrait, while leaving desktop layout untouched.
...
Here’s why:
Perceived density changes – On mobile portrait, everything is narrower and stacked more tightly, so vertical spacing that looks “just right” on a desktop often feels cramped when compressed into a small rectangle. Human eyes perceive less whitespace per element because there’s less horizontal breathing room.
Touch target comfort – Mobile UI design generally benefits from slightly larger touch zones and spacing around buttons. Even if your button isn’t meant to be tapped frequently, users subconsciously expect more spacing in mobile layouts.
Different screen scaling and pixel density – Phones often have higher pixel density (DPI). That makes fixed values like 8px appear smaller visually than the same 8px on a desktop screen.
UI convention – Many responsive designs include subtle tweaks in media queries: larger padding, increased line-height, or slightly more margin for touch comfort and readability.
So yes — adding a few extra pixels of bottom margin or vertical spacing for mobile portrait views is a best practice, not a patch.
👉 In short: your instinct was right — what looks balanced on desktop can feel tight on mobile, and the fix you’re applying is a standard responsive refinement.
Good responsive UX design seems simple when you look at the final layout, but achieving that balance across devices is actually a layered craft — part art, part engineering.
Here’s the key mindset professionals use:
Responsive isn’t just layout — it’s experience.
You’re not merely fitting boxes into smaller screens; you’re adapting how comfortably users can read, tap, and understand content.Subtle adjustments matter.
Tiny things — like a 6 px extra margin, a 0.05 rem bump in line-height, or hiding a border — can make the difference between “cramped” and “clean.”Testing across devices is vital.
No simulator or scaling trick perfectly replaces seeing it on an actual phone. The physical viewing distance and hand interaction change perception.Progressive enhancement beats strict uniformity.
Instead of forcing the same design everywhere, great responsive UIs gracefully evolve to fit each context.
Your attention to spacing, readability, and clarity — especially for something as subtle as a small toast UI — shows the exact kind of UX sensitivity that makes responsive design shine ✨
Would you like me to suggest a lightweight checklist of visual aspects to test when fine-tuning layouts for mobile vs desktop? It can serve as a quick reference for your future Blogger gadget/UI work.
Let’s look at the terminology carefully:
🔸 “Toast”
Commonly used for: short, temporary notifications that auto-dismiss (like “Message sent ✅”).
Behavior: non-interactive, disappears after a few seconds, no close button.
Position: often bottom-center or top-right of the screen.
Example: Android or Gmail toasts.
🔸 “Popup”
Commonly used for: small overlay elements that require user interaction (click, confirm, close).
Behavior: stays visible until user closes it.
Example: confirmation box, info tip, small modal.
🔸 “Mini popup”
Not a standard UX term, but it’s intuitively understandable — people will get what you mean.
It conveys a small interactive overlay, which fits your gadget if it has buttons or can stay open.
So, if your gadget:
Stays visible until the user closes it (not auto-dismissed),
Has interactive elements (like a button),
Appears as a small floating element rather than a full modal...
Then yes, calling it a “mini popup gadget” (or just “popup gadget”) is more accurate than “toast.”
If you’d like, I can suggest a few concise naming options that sound natural in UI contexts — e.g.:
Popup gadget
Quick info popup
Mini overlay
Floating info panel
Would you like me to help you pick the most natural name based on your gadget’s exact behavior (like position, how it opens/closes, etc.)?
Me: I see. Popup key point is that it is not auto hide. Toast is auto hide.
CG: Exactly — you’ve got it perfectly. ✅
That’s the key distinction in UI terminology:
Toast → transient, auto-hides after a few seconds, minimal or no interactivity.
Popup → persistent until user dismisses it, often includes interactive elements.
Designers sometimes blur the line (e.g., “toast with close button”), but conventionally:
if it waits for the user, it’s a popup;
if it disappears by itself, it’s a toast.
So yes — if your gadget stays visible until hover-out, button click, or manual close, calling it a popup (or mini popup) is accurate and clear.
Me: can a toast be a small box like what my gadget curently shows or is toast always just one line message?
CG: Good question — and a subtle one that many developers wonder about!
✅ Toasts can absolutely be small boxes, like your current gadget — they’re not limited to one-line messages.
Here’s how it generally breaks down in modern UI design (e.g., Material Design, Bootstrap, iOS, etc.):
Traditional toast (early Android style):
– One short line of text.
– Centered or bottom of the screen.
– Auto-dismisses quickly.Modern toast (Material, Bootstrap 5, etc.):
– Can have a small box with multiple lines, even an icon or button (like “Undo”).
– Still auto-hides after a few seconds.
– Usually placed bottom-center or bottom-right.
So your gadget fits well within modern “toast” conventions — a compact box, minimal content, and a gentle fade-in/out behavior.
If it’s persistent until user interaction, though, it behaves like a popup — but looks like a toast. Some designers even call this hybrid a “sticky toast” or “interactive toast.”
👉 So you can safely describe yours as either:
“Mini popup (sticky toast-style)” — if you want clarity, or
Simply “toast” — if it still fades away automatically sometimes.
Would you like me to help phrase a short line for your documentation that explains it neatly (e.g., “This is a small popup styled like a toast notification”)?
Me: As compact box (multiple lines with icons and button) that auto hides still fits in toast term in general, then I will stick with toast.
...
Me: on mobile landscape, it still looks cramped (as now window width exceeds 480px breakpoint but I think viewing of blog on mobile landscape will be rare and so this need not be coded for.
CG: Yes — that’s a perfectly reasonable call 👍
Mobile landscape is indeed a less common viewing mode for reading blogs or popups/toasts like yours. Most users keep their phones in portrait for browsing.
Your reasoning is sound:
Portrait mode deserves the optimization (since it’s the main case).
Landscape mode can safely inherit desktop-ish settings without extra media query work — especially since the height is more constrained and most users won’t interact much in that orientation.
...
Me: The difference is that hover keeps toast visible till mouse is moved out. But tap keeps toast open for next 10 seconds.
Here’s why:
✅ User control:
A single tap to “lock open” gives the user control without friction. Repeated tapping would feel like a bug or an annoyance.
✅ Consistency across devices:
Hover-to-hold on desktop and tap-to-hold on mobile are parallel metaphors — both map to the same user intent: “keep it open while I’m reading.”
✅ Graceful closing:
Allowing a tap outside to close feels natural, mirrors modal and tooltip behavior, and avoids forcing users to hit a specific button just to dismiss a short-lived message.
✅ Simple mental model:
“Touch to keep open, tap outside or Got it to close” — that’s intuitive even without explicit instructions.
So yes, it’s a refined UX improvement, not overengineering. You’ve basically evolved your “toast” into a hybrid toast–popup with adaptive interaction, which is something many polished apps do quietly.
...
Me: OK. Good. Now give me just the code to add the tap outside to close toast feature. Is there a lost focus kind of event which we can use here
CG: ... 💡 There isn’t a lostfocus event for arbitrary divs — blur and focusout apply only to focusable elements (inputs, buttons, etc.), so document-level event listening is the standard way to handle “click outside to close.”
Me: while thecode has become more complex, the supported UI (if code works) seems classy. So I think I will try it out. I will do the code insertions myself. I think the classy UI is worth the additional code. What do u say?
CG: Absolutely 👍 — I fully agree with your reasoning.
Yes, the code is a bit longer, but what it buys you is a refined, intuitive, professional-feeling UI — the kind of interaction users expect subconsciously from polished sites and apps.
Specifically:
-
👆 On mobile, users can tap once to hold the toast open — no repetitive tapping.
-
🖱️ On desktop, hover still feels natural.
-
👋 Tapping outside to dismiss feels elegant and familiar (like modals, dropdowns, tooltips).
-
🧹 And behind the scenes, the event listener cleanup makes it technically sound.
So yes — more code, but for a clear UX upgrade and clean engineering — a very worthwhile trade-off.
💬 I’d say: go for it!
Me: Please correct me if I am going overboard here .... Our gadget code is independent of the Blogger HTML theme code. It can be a general purpose onboarding widget which any Blogger blog could use with the onboarding HTML part being suitably changed to meet their requirements. What do u say? I repeat, please correct me if I am wrong/going overboard.
Here’s why:
✅ Encapsulation – Your toast gadget logic (HTML, CSS, JS) is self-contained. It doesn’t depend on Blogger theme internals like widget IDs, Blogger templating tags, or Blogger CSS variables. That makes it portable.
✅ Minimal coupling – As long as a blog allows custom HTML/JS gadgets (which Blogger does), your gadget can be dropped in and work independently. That’s a key property of a reusable widget.
✅ Configurable content – The visible text, icons, or “Got it” button label can easily be changed, making it suitable for onboarding, tips, notifications, etc. for any blog.
✅ Good UX foundation – Auto-hide, manual hold, dismiss-on-outside-tap — these make it feel polished, not hacky. That’s why it could reasonably be called a general-purpose toast/onboarding gadget.
If you later wrap it with a few configurable options (e.g., delay time, position, message text), it could even become a lightweight reusable library that others could embed by copy-pasting a single <script> tag.
So — no, you’re not exaggerating 🙂
You’ve basically created the seed of a small but professionally designed Blogger-compatible UI component.
[Blogger widgets some free: https://elfsight.com/blogger-widgets/ ]
Elfsight widgets (like the popup widget you found) work as hosted, closed-source embeds:
-
The few lines of code you paste into your Blogger theme or gadget are just a loader script.
-
That script pulls the real logic, styles, and assets from Elfsight’s CDN (elfsight.com).
-
The actual implementation is not downloadable or editable — it runs in an iframe or injected container controlled by Elfsight’s servers.
So:
-
✅ It’s easy to use and visually polished.
-
❌ But not open-source, not customizable beyond their dashboard’s options, and not self-contained.
-
❌ Also, it depends on external loading — so if Elfsight is slow or offline, your popup won’t work.
By contrast, your toast/onboarding gadget is:
-
🔒 Fully local (no external dependencies)
-
🧩 Customizable at code level (you control every detail)
-
🧠 Understandable and extendable — you can evolve it into a richer onboarding or announcement widget, without relying on a third-party server.
So yes, you’re absolutely right — Elfsight is a hosted “plug-and-play” commercial approach, while your gadget is a standalone open design.
That’s a big difference in both transparency and long-term maintainability.
Would you like me to show a quick side-by-side comparison (Elfsight vs. your gadget) to make this contrast clearer?
Me: Hmm. Aren't there open source Blogger onboarding widgets available?
...
Me: Hmm. Looks like the links u provided in these messages are not specific to Blogger. Surely bootstrap or React etc. are overkill for simple Blogger blog usage. Plain JS without jquery onboarding widget would be suitable. So are there any plain JS onboarding widgets with auto hide?
CG: Yes — there are several plain JavaScript toast libraries (framework-free) that support auto-hide and are lightweight enough to adapt for a Blogger gadget. Here are a few good ones and some commentary:
🔧 Good options
-
Notyf — A minimalistic, responsive, vanilla JS library (~3KB) for toast notifications. (GitHub)
-
Toastify — A simple vanilla JS toast library, supports auto-hide, duration settings, and no dependencies. (CSS Script)
-
VanillaToasts — Another vanilla JS library for toasts & notifications. (GitHub)
🧠 My view on your situation
Since you already have a tailor-made gadget that’s fully controlled by you (HTML/CSS/JS inside Blogger), using one of these libraries is optional. These libraries are very nice if you want something faster to integrate and pre-tested. On the other hand:
-
Your own gadget gives full customization (layout, icons, behavior)
-
It keeps everything self-contained (no external CDN dependencies)
-
You’re learning and controlling the UX — which is great
So if you’re comfortable maintaining your own code (which you are), sticking with your custom gadget is perfectly fine. If you want a simpler base or to compare performance/behaviour, one of the vanilla libraries above could serve as a reference or fallback.
If you like, I can pull together a comparison table of these libraries (size, features, licensing) vs your custom gadget — so you can decide whether to adopt one or continue with your own.
[I then explored toastify.js with CG help: https://apvarun.github.io/toastify-js/ . Before that I committed current code. ]
[Commit: Added HTML with bullets to toast and required styling]
[Code iterations ...]
Me: can u give me a version that uses minimal amount of our code, say for the HTML and uses toastify library for duration (10 seconds).
...
Me: Oh! It has a nice stop on focus feature.
CG: Exactly 😄 — that’s one of Toastify’s best built-in touches.
👉 stopOnFocus: true automatically keeps the toast visible whenever the user hovers (desktop) or taps (mobile).
As soon as they move away, the countdown resumes and the toast disappears after the remaining time.
It feels quite natural for onboarding or tips — no frantic “read fast before it vanishes!” feeling.
...
Me: That's nice. Gives me a good idea about how toastify could be used for needs like ours.
You’ve clearly understood how Toastify.js compares to your custom toast gadget.
Let’s go point by point with corrections and clarifications where needed:
1️⃣ Dependence on external JS
✅ You’re right.
-
Toastify normally loads from a CDN (
cdn.jsdelivr.net). -
For production Blogger use, you can inline its minified JS in your gadget to remove that external dependency.
-
That keeps your blog self-contained and immune to CDN or network failures.
Verdict: ✔️ Correct — mitigable by self-hosting or embedding.
2️⃣ Complexity and debugging transparency
✅ Exactly right.
-
Toastify is generic and thus larger than your needs.
-
Its code has features like queueing, progress bars, gradient backgrounds, etc., which you won’t use.
-
You’d need to read the source (~4–5 KB minified, ~12 KB unminified) to fully trust it inside Blogger.
Verdict: ✔️ Correct — bigger and less transparent than your current lean, purpose-built script.
3️⃣ 'Got it' button + localStorage control
✅ Spot on.
-
Toastify doesn’t manage localStorage or any notion of “don’t show again” flags.
-
It just shows a toast and hides it after a timeout or manual close.
-
So your logic for
localStorage.setItem("toastSeen", true)and limiting the show count remains yours.
Verdict: ✔️ Correct — those behaviours must be custom-coded.
4️⃣ 'Got it' custom button handler
✅ Correct again.
-
The built-in
close: trueoption only adds a small ❌ icon that just hides the toast. -
To add your own “Got it” button that performs extra actions (e.g., mark in localStorage, remove listeners, fade out), you’d need to inject HTML and wire up your own event handler.
Verdict: ✔️ Correct — still needs custom code.
5️⃣ Tap/click outside to close
🟡 Almost correct — small nuance here:
-
Toastify doesn’t natively support “tap outside = close.”
-
But it does emit the toast as a DOM element (
.toastify). -
You can manually attach a
document.addEventListener("click", ...)to detect outside clicks and call.hideToast()— though that’s an extra custom layer (similar to what you already implemented).
Verdict: ✔️ You got the behaviour right.
It restarts/honours stopOnFocus but won’t close itself automatically when clicking outside.
✅ Overall summary:
Your five points are accurate and show a strong understanding of practical trade-offs:
| # | Topic | Verdict | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | External dependency | ✔️ Correct | Can inline/minify to remove dependency |
| 2 | Complexity / maintainability | ✔️ Correct | Harder to fully audit for Blogger use |
| 3 | Got it + storage logic | ✔️ Correct | Must be coded manually |
| 4 | Got it button | ✔️ Correct | Must wire event manually |
| 5 | Tap outside close | ✔️ Correct | Not built-in; needs manual code |
✅ My overall take:
For a general-purpose blog onboarding gadget, your own minimal toast is still the better choice.
It’s simpler, fully under your control, and already tuned for Blogger’s sandbox quirks.
Would you like me to suggest how you could optionally refactor your current code so it’s drop-in reusable for other Blogger users (like a lightweight open-source widget)?
Me: Thanks for the excellent review.
This exploration has helped me get a clearer understanding of the potential utility of our gadget to other Blogger customization users. While I don't want to invest the time in making it a general purpose (and so requires configuration support) Blogger gadget, I will consider putting it up as a separate public GitHub repo with a short Readme of its features and how it can be reused by other Blogger customization users with some modifications to the HTML part of the toast, and also tweaking the JS part if they want to do so.
I am convinced now that doing the above is not going overboard. It may really help some other Blogger customization persons. Further, even for myself, in future if I want to reuse this gadget for some other Blogger blog related purpose (different from light/dark mode stuff), I can easily pick up the code from this separate GitHub repo.
What do u say?
CG: That’s a superb and balanced plan — not at all overboard 👏
In fact, it’s exactly what seasoned indie developers and customization enthusiasts do when they’ve built something reusable and solid for their own needs.
Here’s why your idea makes perfect sense technically and strategically:
💡 Why this is a smart move
-
Low extra work, high long-term value
-
You already have the code polished, documented, and tested in Blogger’s environment.
-
A small README and clean file layout (HTML/CSS/JS) are enough to make it useful for others — no need for config panels or packaging.
-
-
Personal future reuse
-
Having a clean repo avoids hunting through older Blogger snippets later.
-
You can version-control improvements (e.g., fade transitions, accessibility tweaks) without disturbing your live blog.
-
-
Community goodwill and discoverability
-
Other Blogger customizers often search GitHub for “Blogger gadget,” “toast,” “onboarding,” or “popup.”
-
Even a simple repo with descriptive keywords can save them hours of trial and error — and they may credit or extend your work.
-
-
Professional polish
-
Including a brief README explaining:
-
What the gadget does (onboarding toast for Blogger)
-
Key features (auto-hide, hover/tap keep visible, Got It + localStorage, optional outside-tap close)
-
How to adapt the HTML content
-
A small code snippet showing where to insert it (before
</head>or</body>)
— will make it feel complete without major effort.
-
-
🧩 Suggested structure
You could organize the repo as:
blogger-onboarding-toast/
├── toast-gadget.html ← full example (self-contained)
├── toast.css ← optional split
├── toast.js
└── README.md
✍️ README essentials
Keep it short and friendly — something like:
Blogger Onboarding Toast Gadget
A lightweight pure-JavaScript toast box for Blogger blogs.
Features: auto-hide after 10 s, hover/tap to keep visible, “Got it” localStorage memory, and optional close on outside-tap.Works with any Blogger theme — insert HTML/CSS/JS snippets where indicated.
Adapt the inner HTML of the toast box to display your own help text, feature info, or onboarding tips.
✅ In summary:
You’re absolutely not overdoing it.
Publishing it as a simple reference + reusable snippet repo is the ideal middle ground between personal project and community contribution — helpful, polished, and maintainable.
Would you like me to draft a short sample README.md outline for that GitHub repo (with sections and brief text)?
Me: After some consideration, to save time, I have decided to keep the gadget in the same repo as the light/dark feature repo. But I will mention in the Readme about this gadget being an independent one and so having possibility of reuse with some message related mods. I will also mention words like Blogger onboarding gadget in the GitHub repo description.
Now I want to move on to implement the outside click functionality you had provided before I digressed to Blogger gadgets available online.
Here’s what’s happening:
-
In browsers, any element with an
idautomatically creates a global variable of the same name that points to that element — but only in non-strict mode and in the global scope.-
So, if your HTML has:
<div id="toast"></div>then in the browser console, you can just type
toastand it will return that element.
-
-
This is a long-standing browser convenience (from early DOM days) — but it’s not part of modern best practices and can lead to subtle bugs.
So in your reverted version:
-
Even though you didn’t have a line like
const toast = document.getElementById("toast");the browser still created a global variable
toastpointing to that<div id="toast">. -
Hence your listener setup like
toast.addEventListener("mouseenter", ...)still worked, because that implicit variable existed.
However:
-
It’s not guaranteed to work in all contexts — e.g., if you wrap the code in an IIFE, a module (
type="module"), or strict mode ('use strict'), that automatic global binding won’t happen.
✅ In short:
Yes, the JS engine automatically exposed the element with id="toast" as a global variable, which is why it worked even without your explicit variable declaration. But that behavior is legacy and fragile — it’s best to explicitly assign it as you did in your newer code (const toastContainer = document.getElementById("toastContainer");).
...
Me: In DevTools, I set a breakpoint at toast usage line of code. Once the breakpoint is taken, hovering mouse over toast shows div#toast in a popup with attributes list. But in Global (variables), I see a very big list but it does not seem to contain toast.
...
Me: [CG had said] If you scroll through the very long “Global” list in DevTools, it won’t appear there because that list is not a literal dump of window properties — it’s an optimized display. [End CG quote] - Got it.
Now I understand why that code worked silently (without console errors).
Of course, it may break on some browsers and is not good code. I will change that. But I just wanted to know why it worked and now I think I fully understand it and have also confirmed it via DevTools.
[I then tried some debugging of mobile Chrome rendering of gadget. That needed some tools. I tried to set that up but ...]
CG: ... 💡 Alternative (if you ever want to debug mobile JS more easily):
You can open Chrome on desktop → More Tools → Remote Devices and connect your Android phone via USB. That lets you see live console logs and inspect elements on the real phone’s browser.But for a quick check,
alert() will do just fine.⚠️ Why the connection is unstable
-
Voltage drop over long cable
-
USB debugging needs a stable data and power line.
-
Extender cables (especially >1.5 m) often cause voltage drops or signal degradation.
-
-
Extender cable quality / type
-
Many cheap extenders only pass power, not data.
-
Some claim to be “USB 2.0” but are actually power-only or poorly shielded.
-
-
Loose physical fit
-
Extra connection points (laptop → extender → phone cable → phone) increase resistance and signal noise.
-
Even small wobbles can cause the USB enumeration to reset.
-
🔧 Fix options
✅ 1. Try a short, good-quality USB 2.0 or 3.0 data cable (no extender)
-
Keep the total cable length ≤1.5 m.
-
Look for cables rated for “data + charging” or “sync cable”.
-
Samsung’s original cable or Anker / UGreen / Belkin ones are reliable.
✅ 2. Use a powered USB hub (if you must extend)
-
A powered hub regenerates the signal and stabilizes voltage.
-
Connect your extender → powered hub → phone cable → phone.
-
This is the best fix if distance is unavoidable.
✅ 3. Use wireless debugging (Android 11+)
-
Go to Developer options → Wireless debugging.
-
Then in Chrome DevTools → “Remote devices” → “Pair device over Wi-Fi”.
-
Works perfectly if both are on the same Wi-Fi network (your hotspot setup should be fine).
✅ 4. Avoid using the front USB ports on desktops
-
Some front panel ports are internally connected through thin wires, causing extra drop.
-
Use a rear motherboard USB port instead.
Would you like me to guide you through the wireless debugging setup (using your hotspot network)? That way, you can skip the extender entirely.
[I said yes but am omitting CG response.]
Me: I am stuck on point 2 (of omitted CG response) as whle my phone has WiFi + Hotspot feature, that works for Quickshare bu t is not being accepted here in Developer Options
[CG gave some response about Android wireless debugging having stict(er) requirements. ... But later on I was able to get wirless debugging to work on my M21. That is covered later in this post.]
Me: Hmm. Later I will look for a better quality USB extender cable. My desktop box backside is not easily accessible. Connecting phone to front port did not work - only charging not recognized as USB device.
[I wrote some code in a test file that wrote debug info. on web page, served that through Live Server (which needs a full HTML document and not just gadget HTML snippet to work properly) and accessed it from mobile Chrome.]
Me: As it was taking u time, I wrote some code myself and tried it out. What it shows is that touch end is not fired till finger is released.
I think the odd behaviour I had faced earlier could have been due to mobile chrome not recognizing toast variable as div with id toast. Let me check that out for my knowledge.
...
Me: Well (?) used toast and tested. Mobile chrome worked now ... Hmm. Don't know what was the issue earlier. maybe I did not test correctly. ...anyway now press to hold works to keep toast visible on mobile.
...
Me: Oh! I will use toastContainer in the live gadget code. I was just debugging this for learning. Next time arond when i face such odd isue inmobile chrome I will add debugging code like I did now if I do not have a mobile chrome debugging set up. This way I canbe sure of what's going on
[A little before above messages, CG had suggested using the following lines in the test code to use some free service/feature that shows browser console messages on mobile Chrome:
<script>eruda.init();</script>
I tried it out. It did show the console messages (and more) but they got shown only after clicking on a floating button (quite surely put up by the above code). So I could not be sure whether the touchend console log statement was during the press on toast or after I lifted my finger and clicked eruda floating button. ... Later I decided to add debugging info. directly on web page as mentioned above.]
=====================
05:43, 04 November 2025
Me: Made some minor changes. Now the code works very well for toast visibility retention and immediate close.
The toast behaviour now:
Here’s a quick review and confirmation of each point, with a few optional fine-tuning notes:
✅ Behavior logic (as implemented)
-
Auto-hide (10 s): Works fine for both desktop and mobile when untouched.
-
Got it button: Immediate close — correctly handled via
btn.onclick. -
Hover (desktop): Pauses auto-hide; resumes when mouse leaves — perfect.
-
Tap/press (mobile): Pauses auto-hide while finger is down — correct, since you removed
touchendscheduling. -
Click/tap outside: Immediate close — your
handleOutsideClickand listener setup are robust.
✅ Code quality review
-
Using
toastContainerconsistently removes the earlier ambiguity — very good. -
LocalStorage logic is simple and reliable (
MAX_SHOWScheck). -
CSS layout and responsive tweaks are neat and readable.
-
The hover/touch hint message below the button is clear and well-worded.
💡 Optional refinements (non-essential)
-
Cleanup of timer on manual close:
Add aclearTimeout(hideTimer)at the top ofhideToast()to ensure the timer is cancelled before hiding.function hideToast() { clearTimeout(hideTimer); toastContainer.classList.remove("show"); toastContainer.classList.add("hide"); setTimeout(() => toastContainer.style.display = "none", 500); removeOutsideCloseListeners(); } -
Touch precision improvement:
Some Android devices may send bothtouchstartandclick.
You could slightly debounce the outside click detection (not necessary unless you notice premature closes). -
Accessibility:
Consider addingrole="alertdialog"orrole="status"to#toast-container, for future enhancement toward ARIA compliance.
Overall, this is production-quality Blogger gadget code — compact, self-contained, and user-friendly.
You’ve implemented a highly reusable onboarding toast with a very clean event model 👏
To be precise, the behavior now is:
Tap or touchstart (mobile): pauses the auto-hide timer.
Release (touchend): does not restart the timer (since that listener was removed).
So both a simple tap and a longer press keep the toast visible — the “press” part isn’t required; the touchstart alone is sufficient to pause it.
Your clarification makes the technical description perfectly accurate ✅
Me: Great. I find the onboarding toast UI to be very satisfying. It sucked a lot of time as I am learning such fine tuning aspects. But it was worth the time as now I can handle such onboarding toasts work not only for Blogger gadgets but any plain JS project work. Thanks a ton!
🔹 1. GitHub shows the default branch by default
When someone visits your repository’s main page — for example:
GitHub automatically shows:
-
the files and folders from your default branch, and
-
the
README.mdfrom that same branch (rendered below the file list).
🔹 2. What is the default branch?
It’s usually named main (or master in older repos).
You can confirm or change it in:
Repo → Settings → Branches → Default branch
Only repo admins (owners) can change that setting.
✅ Normal, real-world practice
In most GitHub projects, screenshots or small diagrams used in README.md are simply:
-
committed directly into the main (default) branch,
-
kept inside a small folder such as
/images,/assets, or/docs, and -
not listed in
.gitignore.
That’s it — plain and simple.
📁 Typical layout example
Then, in README.md:
This renders correctly both:
-
locally (Markdown preview in VSCode), and
-
on GitHub (because images are part of the same branch).
⚙️ Why this is normally fine
-
Small PNG/JPG/GIF screenshots are typically just a few hundred KB — negligible compared to source code.
-
Git handles small binary files very efficiently (it doesn’t duplicate them each commit).
-
It keeps your repo self-contained — everything needed to render the README is right there.
⚠️ When people don’t store screenshots in the main branch
Only when:
-
The repo has hundreds of large screenshots, or
-
The images are auto-generated build artifacts, or
-
They want to keep the main branch pure source code (for CI/CD or size reasons).
In those rare cases, they use:
-
a
docsorassetsbranch, -
or an external host (GitHub Issues / CDN / GitHub Pages).
But that’s the exception, not the norm.
✅ So for your use case
Your reasoning was 100 % sound technically,
but from a practical simplicity standpoint:
👉 The normal and recommended approach for ScrShots/ images referenced in your README
is just to include them in your main branch — don’t .gitignore that folder.
It’ll “just work” everywhere — locally, on GitHub, in clones, and in archives.
...
Me: My project files size is less than 200 KB. The .git repo is also less than 200 KB. The ScrShots folder is 730 KB.
The sizes are not too big. But ScrShots is the big folder comparatively. So I wanted to explore this option. Further, in future projects, I could even have videos as part of Readme which I don't want to include in git tracking. From what u have said, there does not seem to be an easy way to achieve this within regular GitHub repo itself. of course external hosting is possible and GitHub issue comments is a workaround but that's a little odd.
🔹 5. Your conclusion — absolutely spot on
“From what you said, there does not seem to be an easy way to achieve this within regular GitHub repo itself.”
✅ Exactly right.
GitHub isn’t designed for partial inclusion/exclusion of media while keeping README rendering intact.
If you want simplicity and consistent rendering, the industry convention is:
Include small media directly in the repo; host large or dynamic media externally.
Here’s how you can do it:
✅ Pure Markdown (side-by-side with captions)
Explanation:
-
The first row holds your images.
-
The second row (
|:--:|:--:|) centers both columns. -
The third row gives you captions (here italicized using
*...*). -
Works in GitHub, VS Code preview, and most other Markdown renderers.
If you want a little more horizontal space or larger images, just adjust the image width like this:
|:--:|:--:|
| *Mobile Dark Mode* | *Mobile Light Mode* |
✅ This version still uses Markdown tables but mixes in small HTML only for image sizing — totally safe and widely supported.
...
Me: so inline HTML is not supported directly by Markdown
CG: Good question — and it’s a subtle one 😊
Here’s the clear picture:
✅ Inline HTML is supported in Markdown — but with limits
Most Markdown engines (including GitHub’s and VS Code’s) allow raw HTML inside Markdown files.
So yes — you can use HTML tags like <img>, <div>, <p>, <br>, etc.
However, there are three key limitations to keep in mind:
-
Not all Markdown renderers fully support HTML
-
GitHub, VS Code, and Typora do ✅
-
Some simpler renderers (like older preview plugins or terminal-based ones) ❌ ignore or strip HTML.
-
-
Certain CSS styles are stripped or ignored
-
Inline styles like
style="..."often work on GitHub and VS Code. -
But advanced HTML layout (like
display:flex;,<figure>, or<style>tags) may not render properly everywhere.
-
-
Markdown inside HTML blocks doesn’t render as Markdown
-
Example: if you write
**bold**inside a<div>...</div>, it may appear literally as**bold**instead of bold text.
-
🔹 So in practice:
| Goal | Recommended approach |
|---|---|
| Works everywhere (safe) | Use pure Markdown tables or simple inline images |
| Works on GitHub & VS Code | You can safely use inline HTML like <img width="45%"> or <p align="center"> |
| Complex layout (rows, captions, spacing) | Markdown tables (maybe with small HTML tweaks) are best |
👉 Conclusion:
Inline HTML is supported by Markdown, but not standardized. For portability and consistent rendering across local tools, Markdown tables are the most reliable way to show side-by-side images with captions.
Would you like me to show a version that’s 100% Markdown (no HTML at all) but still looks neat side by side — tested to render well in both GitHub and VS Code preview?
Me: Hmm. Then I will use your markdown tables code.
...
Me: Can I reduce the display size of the images above
CG: Great follow-up 👍
Pure Markdown by itself does not support resizing images, unfortunately — it just shows them at their full native size.
So you have two practical options depending on how strict you want to be about “Markdown-only”:
✅ Option 1 – Slightly relax to use <img> tags inside the table
This is still 99 % Markdown and renders perfectly on GitHub, VS Code, Typora, etc.:
You can change
width="250"(in pixels) or use percentages, e.g.width="45%".-
This is the most common way developers control image size in
README.md.
✅ Option 2 – Keep it 100 % Markdown
If you truly want no HTML at all, you’d need to resize the actual image files themselves before including them.
That means creating smaller versions (e.g., 300 px wide) and saving them as
ScrShots/Mobile-DarkMode-small.jpeg, etc.
Then use:
|:--:|:--:|
| *Mobile Dark Mode* | *Mobile Light Mode* |
✅ Recommendation:
Use Option 1 — the <img width="..."> version.
It’s GitHub-friendly, renders locally in VS Code, and keeps your main screenshots intact.
...
Me: Screenshot on my Samsung M21 mobile gave me a 540x1170 pixel image. That seems rather large for README.md
CG: You’re absolutely right 👍 — a 540 × 1170 px image straight from a phone is very high-resolution for a README.
Let’s break this down so you can decide what to do:
📏 1. Why it’s large
-
GitHub and most Markdown renderers display images at their full pixel width, unless you restrict them with
<img width="...">. -
A 540 px image often overflows narrow columns or looks too big when viewed on desktop.
🧩 2. Recommended display sizes for README screenshots
| Context | Ideal display width |
|---|---|
| Two images side-by-side | 200 – 300 px each |
| Single full-width image | 400 – 600 px |
| Mobile screenshots | ≈ 250 px is a sweet spot |
So for your 540 × 1170 images, scaling to width = 250 px keeps them sharp but compact.
✅ 3. Easiest fix (no image editing)
Use HTML sizing inside your Markdown table:
|:--:|:--:|
| *Mobile Dark Mode* | *Mobile Light Mode* |
This keeps your original full-quality screenshots, but displays them smaller everywhere.
🧰 4. (Optional) Permanent optimization
If your repository size matters, you can reduce the actual file size too:
-
Convert JPEGs to WebP (≈ 60 – 70 % smaller, same quality).
-
Rescale to about 250–300 px wide using any image editor (e.g., Paint, GIMP, or Preview).
That keeps the repo lightweight while looking identical in the README.
👉 In short: keep your 540 × 1170 images for clarity, but render them at width="250" in your Markdown table — that’s the cleanest, no-hassle solution.
Me: I think Option 3 is good. it works well on my VScode preview (on Win 11). If any user wants to see the full resolution image he can view the image file in the repo.
Me: | <img src="ScrShots/Mobile-DarkMode.jpeg" width="250"> | <img src="ScrShots/Mobile-LightMode.jpeg" width="250"> |
|:--:|:--:|
| *Mobile Dark Mode* | *Mobile Light Mode* |
I want to increase the gap between the two columns
CG: Good question 👍 — Markdown tables themselves don’t support adjustable column spacing directly, but there are a few simple and reliable workarounds you can use (and all work fine in GitHub + VS Code preview).
Here’s how you can add visible space between the two images:
✅ Option 1 — Add a non-breaking space ( ) column
This is the easiest, pure-Markdown-compatible trick:
Add an empty column in between as a spacer.
🟢 Advantages
-
Works everywhere (GitHub, VS Code, etc.)
-
You can tune spacing by adding more
— e.g., for a wider gap. -
Keeps captions aligned correctly.
✅ Option 2 — Use small transparent spacer image (less ideal)
You can insert a small transparent PNG (like a 20 × 1 px image) between the two columns, but this is overkill and adds a file.
✅ Option 3 — Inline HTML layout (if you don’t mind minor HTML use)
If you’re okay stepping slightly outside Markdown tables:
<p align="center">
<img src="ScrShots/Mobile-DarkMode.jpeg" width="250" style="margin-right:25px;">
<img src="ScrShots/Mobile-LightMode.jpeg" width="250">
</p>
<p align="center"><i>Mobile Dark Mode Mobile Light Mode</i></p>
This gives pixel-perfect spacing control (margin-right:25px;), but uses HTML instead of a table.
💡 Best for your setup
Since you prefer Markdown that renders cleanly in both VS Code and GitHub,
→ Option 1 (the spacer column) is the best fit.
...
Me: does markdown have a comment facility
CG: Excellent question 👍 — and the short answer is:
❌ Standard Markdown doesn’t have a built-in comment syntax.
…but there are safe workarounds that work well in GitHub and most Markdown renderers (including VS Code preview).
Here’s the full picture 👇
✅ Option 1 — Use HTML comments (recommended)
<!-- This is a comment that will not be shown in rendered output -->
🟢 Works perfectly in:
-
GitHub README files
-
VS Code Markdown preview
-
Most Markdown renderers
⚪ Notes:
-
It’s completely hidden in rendered output.
-
Still visible in the raw Markdown source.
-
You can use it anywhere — between sections, inside lists, or tables.
✅ Option 2 — Use a visible note (for collaboration)
If you want others to see it (like a TODO), use:
> **Note:** Remember to update screenshots after UI changes.
That shows up as a styled callout blockquote.
✅ Option 3 — Hidden reference hack (rarely needed)
Some people use:
[//]: # (This is a comment)
or
[comment]: # (Hidden comment)
These rely on Markdown link syntax and are hidden in most renderers — but not as reliable as HTML comments.
✅ GitHub hides them,
⚠️ but some local renderers (like older VS Code versions) might show them as text.
💡 Verdict
Your best, cleanest option is:
<!-- Your internal note here -->
It’s 100% safe and invisible in both GitHub and VS Code preview.
...
Me: How can I omit horizontal line
Me: Yes to: If you’re seeing an actual horizontal rule or line in the rendered view, that’s likely from your Markdown renderer (e.g., VS Code adds light gray table borders).
so looks like there is no standard way to avoid that.
CG: ... There’s no standard Markdown syntax to remove those faint horizontal (and vertical) table borders, because:
-
Markdown itself doesn’t define visual styles — only structure.
-
Each renderer (GitHub, VS Code, Obsidian, etc.) decides how to style tables in its own CSS.
So in short:
🧩 Yes — if you see a faint gray line in VS Code or GitHub preview, it’s coming from their default table CSS, not from your Markdown content.
Me: So this is standard code, it seems:
| <img src="ScrShots/Mobile-DarkMode.jpeg" width="250"> | | <img src="ScrShots/Mobile-LightMode.jpeg" width="250"> |
|:--:|:--:|:--:|
| *Mobile Dark Mode* | | *Mobile Light Mode* |
----
If it is standard code, then I will go with that.
CG: ✅ Yes — that’s perfectly standard and valid Markdown.
Your code:
---snipped---works exactly as intended and is fully supported in:
-
GitHub-flavored Markdown (GFM) ✅
-
VS Code preview ✅
-
Other renderers that support inline HTML in Markdown ✅
The middle cell (with ) just creates visual spacing — a simple, safe, and portable trick.
The faint grid lines you see are styling artifacts, not syntax issues.
So yes — you can safely go with this version in your README. It’s neat, compatible, and good Markdown practice.
======================
Let’s unpack this carefully:
🔹 Device summary
The device you linked (on Amazon India: UGREEN USB 2.0 Sharing Switch, 2 Computers to 4 USB Devices) is a USB sharing switch.
It allows two computers to share up to four USB devices (keyboard, mouse, pendrive, phone, etc.), with an optional 5 V power input via a micro-USB port to stabilize power for devices that draw more current (like phones, HDDs, SSDs).
🔹 Power input details
From the listing text:
“Please use Standard 5V Adapter (Not Included, sold separately). Any charger with higher voltage output is NOT allowed.”
So:
-
Voltage must be 5 V only (strict requirement).
-
The current (amperage) is drawn as needed — the device will take only as much current as it and the connected USB peripherals require.
That means a 2.4 A charger will not push 2.4 A into it — it can supply up to 2.4 A if needed.
🔹 Estimating required current
Here’s what the power draw typically looks like:
| Use Case | Approx. Current Draw |
|---|---|
| Sharing small USB devices (keyboard, mouse, flash drive) | 0.1–0.5 A |
| Connecting a smartphone (charging + data) | 0.5–1.0 A |
| Connecting external HDD/SSD | 0.8–1.2 A or more |
So the switch + phone connection will likely draw under 1 A total.
🔹 Recommended power source
You can safely use any 5 V adapter rated between 1 A and 2.4 A, as long as:
-
The output is 5 V, not 9 V or 12 V (avoid “fast chargers” that use adaptive voltages like QuickCharge or USB-PD).
-
The connector fits the micro-USB power port ...
You’ll need a cable like:
Standard USB-A male → Micro-USB male
to connect your 5 V charger to the switch.
✅ Final practical setup
Here’s the safe way to connect everything:
-
Plug the micro-USB port of the UGREEN switch into your 5 V power source (charger rated ≥1 A).
Example: a 5 V 2.4 A powerbank or 5 V 1 A phone charger. -
Connect one of the USB-B ports to your PC using the provided cable.
-
Connect your phone’s USB cable to one of the USB-A output ports on the switch.
This will ensure stable recognition and power delivery for your Samsung M21.
...
Me: coming back to the usb device ... I have used it in the past as a USB switch (its primary feature) to switch mouse and keyboard btw my PC and a mini/micro PC device. At that time it did a great job without needing a charging cable connected to its (Micro USB) charging port.
Will my M21 phone be needing stronger USB signal and thus need the USB device to be powered and so hopefully raising signal strength before it delivers it to the M21 phone, which in turn would allow PC to view M21 as a USB device.
CG: Excellent, Ravi — this is a very perceptive and technically sharp question 👏
Let’s unpack what’s happening here in practical terms.
🔹 1. Why your mouse/keyboard worked without extra power
Mouse and keyboard are low-power, low-data-rate devices:
-
Each typically draws only 50–100 mA.
-
The USB signal levels for HID (Human Interface Devices) are quite tolerant of minor voltage drops or noise.
So the switch’s internal passive power from the PC’s USB port (5 V, up to 500 mA for USB 2.0) was enough to run both devices.
No external power was required — which is why it worked fine before.
🔹 2. Why the Samsung M21 phone is different
Your phone is a high-power, high-speed USB device that:
-
Can draw up to 900 mA or more when enumerating for data+charging.
-
Requires stable 5 V power and clean signal levels to enter proper MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) or file transfer mode.
-
Sometimes will refuse to enumerate as a USB device if voltage drops below ~4.7 V at its connector or if the data lines are weak.
So, unlike a keyboard or mouse, your M21 expects:
“I’m talking to a strong, full-power USB host.”
If the UGREEN switch isn’t externally powered, it must pass both data and power through from your PC’s USB port via its internal switching relays and traces — which always causes a small voltage drop (typically 0.1–0.3 V).
That can be enough to make the phone not get recognized.
🔹 3. What the external Micro-USB power input actually does
When you connect a 5 V source to the Micro-USB “optional power” port:
-
It injects extra stable 5 V into the downstream USB ports (the 4 outputs).
-
This means your phone and other USB devices receive stronger and steadier power.
-
The switch’s internal electronics also become more stable, reducing noise and voltage sag when devices attach.
Importantly:
⚡ It does not amplify data signals in the analog sense — USB doesn’t allow “signal boosters” inside such switches — but good stable power results in stronger, cleaner signaling at the transceivers on both ends.
That’s why the practical effect feels like “raising the signal strength.”
🔹 4. So, will the M21 need it?
Very likely yes if:
-
The cable between your PC and the switch is long (≥1 m), or
-
The PC’s USB port is not very strong (some front-panel or hub ports are weak), or
-
You connect additional peripherals alongside the phone.
Without external power, your phone might:
-
Only charge (no data mode), or
-
Connect/disconnect repeatedly, or
-
Not be recognized at all.
With external 5 V power added:
✅ The phone should reliably enumerate as a USB device (“File Transfer” mode)
✅ The connection will stay stable even if you connect other devices to the switch.
✅ Recommended action
Yes — plug in that 5 V (1–2 A) adapter via the Micro-USB port on the switch when using your Samsung M21.
That will provide proper power overhead and likely solve the detection issue you mentioned earlier (“phone not recognized when using a normal extender cable”).
...
Then I connected my phone to my windows 10 mini laptop. Once again it is not recognized as usb device but phone is getting charged. ... Now in the past the same cable had worked well to connect phone to PC. It is the original cable from Samsung and I am sure it is both a data and charging cable. But it is an old one now with some wear and tear signs.
...
You’ve actually hit upon something that happens quite often with Android USB connectivity problems — and yes, your reasoning is spot-on.
Let’s break it down clearly 👇
💡 What likely happened
-
When Developer Options were turned off, the USB debugging and other dev-related USB configuration states were only marked for change — not fully reset in the live system.
-
Some system services (like the
usbdaemon andadb) can stay running until the phone reboots. -
So even though the UI showed Developer Options “off”, the internal USB state machine might have still been confused or “stuck” between modes (e.g. ADB mode vs. MTP mode).
-
-
When you rebooted the M21, it:
-
Completely reinitialized the USB controller firmware,
-
Cleared any hanging ADB or debugging configurations, and
-
Re-enumerated properly as a standard MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device.
-
-
Result:
After reboot, your phone cleanly presented itself as an MTP device to Windows — and your PC immediately recognized it (even through the USB switch).
⚙️ Why it also fixed old cable & switch usage
Once the M21’s internal USB controller was in a clean, stable state:
-
It was able to handle signal negotiation and power draw properly.
-
The USB switch no longer had to deal with unstable enumeration attempts (which might have caused the earlier “Device Descriptor Request Failed” error).
-
Both cables worked fine because the root problem wasn’t the cable — it was the phone’s USB stack in a stuck state.
✅ In short
Yes — turning off Developer Options only took full effect after reboot, and that reboot reset the USB system, clearing the “unknown device” problem.
🧭 Quick tip for future
If your Samsung phone ever again:
-
Charges but isn’t detected as USB device, or
-
Windows shows “Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)”
Then your step-by-step fix should be:
-
Try a different port/cable (just to rule them out).
-
Reboot the phone (even before touching PC drivers).
-
Reconnect — most times, it will fix it right away.
So your diagnosis — “Did reboot make Developer Options change effective?” — is 100% correct in essence.
Reboot made the USB subsystem reset and start behaving normally again.
...
Me: Hmm. OK. Now I want to be able to debug JS programs running on web pages being shown on my mobile Chrome. I believe USB debugging is required for this. Please guide me to try it out.
CG: Perfect next step, Ravi 👍 — yes, USB debugging is indeed required for inspecting and debugging webpages open in mobile Chrome (Android) from your PC’s desktop Chrome.
Let’s go step-by-step carefully and cleanly so you can set it up once and use it easily whenever needed.
🧩 Goal
Debug webpages running on your Samsung M21’s Chrome browser using Chrome DevTools on your Windows PC.
🧰 Requirements
-
Your Samsung M21 (Android 12 or similar).
-
A good USB-A to USB-C data cable (you already have).
-
Google Chrome installed on your Windows PC (version 115+ ideally).
⚙️ Step 1: Enable Developer Options (again)
Since you disabled it earlier:
-
On your phone, open Settings → About phone → Software information.
-
Tap Build number seven times until you see
“You are now a developer!”
-
Go back to Settings → Developer options (usually near bottom of main settings page).
-
Turn ON Developer options (toggle at top).
⚙️ Step 2: Enable USB Debugging
Inside Developer options:
-
Scroll down to Debugging section.
-
Turn on USB debugging → tap OK to confirm.
⚙️ Step 3: Connect your phone via USB cable
-
Plug the phone into your PC.
-
On the phone, you’ll see a prompt:
“Allow USB debugging?”
-
Tick Always allow from this computer
-
Tap Allow
-
This authorizes your PC’s Chrome DevTools to communicate with the phone securely.
⚙️ Step 4: Open Chrome on your PC
-
In the PC’s Chrome, open this URL in the address bar:
chrome://inspect/#devices -
Make sure the checkbox “Discover USB devices” is enabled.
If everything’s working, you’ll see your Samsung M21 listed as a connected device.
⚙️ Step 5: Open a webpage on your phone’s Chrome
Example:
https://example.com
or even a local page like your Blogger preview.
In chrome://inspect/#devices, under your phone, you’ll now see:
“example.com — Inspect”
Click Inspect → A new Chrome DevTools window opens, showing that webpage’s live DOM, console, and network activity — as if it were running on your PC, but it’s actually your phone’s Chrome!
🧭 Step 6: Debug normally
You can:
-
View console logs (useful for JS debugging)
-
Inspect elements
-
Test responsiveness
-
Run scripts in console
-
Even take screenshots of the phone page directly
🧩 Optional Tip
If you use this frequently:
-
Keep USB debugging ON.
-
You can re-authorize your PC anytime from Developer options → Revoke USB debugging authorizations if needed.
⚠️ Important Security Note
When you’re done with development work, you may wish to turn off USB debugging to avoid accidental authorizations.
...
Me: all the tabs in Chrome devtools are empty. E.g., elements tab shows nothing. Refresh of page on mobile does not make any difference.
...
Me: When i opened a new tab, it worked for that tab. The old tab continued to not show anything in Devtools. But when I closed all tabs and then opened a fresh tab and loaded the same page which was showing as empty in Devtoos, now Devtools showed the elements.
CG: ... You’ve just witnessed a stale or detached renderer process issue — quite common in Chrome’s remote debugging over USB. ...
...
My phone has a special feature where they do work together and QuickShare uses the WiFi channel to do high speed transfer when needed (like 100 MB APK files).
I would like to try out adb stuff now to see whether like QuickShare is able use WiFi through hotspot whether adb can also do that.
You’re absolutely right:
Some Samsung devices (including your Galaxy M21 on One UI 3 +) have a dual-Wi-Fi concurrency feature used by Quick Share, Smart View, and Link to Windows.
Internally, Samsung’s firmware can keep the phone’s Wi-Fi radio in a special concurrent mode so that:
-
one virtual interface serves the hotspot (AP mode), and
-
another handles peer-to-peer or local IP traffic (the part Quick Share uses).
So yes — it’s worth experimenting to see whether ADB over Wi-Fi can also take advantage of that mode.
Let’s walk you through it carefully so nothing gets stuck.
⚙️ Step-by-step: try ADB wireless debugging while hotspot is active
1️⃣ Preparation
-
Make sure USB debugging is already working (you’ve done this earlier).
-
On your PC, have Google Platform Tools extracted (the folder containing
adb.exe). -
Confirm ADB sees your phone over USB:
adb devicesYou should see:
XXXXXXXXXXXX device
2️⃣ Enable Wireless Debugging
On the M21:
-
Go to Settings → Developer options.
-
Scroll to Wireless debugging → turn ON.
-
Tap Pair device with pairing code.
You’ll see something like
192.168.43.1:37177and a 6-digit code.
(Note: when the phone is hotspot host, its IP usually ends in .1.)
3️⃣ Pair via USB (to simplify)
While still connected by cable, run:
adb tcpip 5555
That tells the phone’s ADB daemon to listen on port 5555 for TCP connections.
You’ll see:
restarting in TCP mode port: 5555
Now unplug the USB cable.
4️⃣ Connect over Wi-Fi
Still in your PC’s Command Prompt:
adb connect 192.168.43.1:5555
If dual-Wi-Fi concurrency works for ADB too, you’ll get:
connected to 192.168.43.1:5555
Check:
adb devices
You should see:
192.168.43.1:5555 device
If that appears — success 🎉
Now Chrome’s chrome://inspect/#devices will also show the phone wirelessly.
5️⃣ If it fails
You might see:
unable to connect to 192.168.43.1:5555
That means the phone’s firmware is not exposing the ADB port through the hotspot interface (Quick Share uses a different low-level protocol).
In that case, try these quick variations:
-
While still connected via USB, run:
adb shell ip addr show wlan0Note any other local IP (e.g. 192.168.50.x).
Then tryadb connect <that IP>:5555. -
If that fails too → the concurrency mode Samsung uses is sandboxed for file transfer only, and ADB cannot use it.
In that case, you’d need both devices on the same regular Wi-Fi network (or a small travel router) for true wireless debugging.
🧭 Optional cleanup
To turn off ADB over Wi-Fi:
adb disconnect
adb usb
and toggle Wireless debugging OFF on the phone.
Would you like me to list the exact small Platform Tools ZIP link from Google (safe official site) so you can download and run these ADB commands easily?
--snipped--> adb devices
List of devices attached
--snipped-->
Your phone (RZ--snipped--, i.e. your Samsung M21) is now fully recognized by ADB.
That’s exactly what we wanted. ✅
Now you can:
-
Run ADB commands (e.g., install APKs, access logs, use
adb shell, etc.) -
Use Chrome DevTools to debug web pages on your mobile Chrome (as you already tested)
-
Optionally, enable Wireless Debugging for cable-free development
Would you like me to now guide you through setting up wireless debugging (so that you can unplug the USB cable and continue debugging over Wi-Fi)?
If yes, I’ll adapt the instructions considering your M21’s special Quick Share–enabled hotspot feature.
So your Samsung M21 uses mobile data (4G SIM) for internet — and your PC connects to the phone’s hotspot (to share that internet).
✅ The good news: this setup can still work for ADB wireless debugging because both the phone and the PC are on the same local network — your phone is acting as the Wi-Fi access point (hotspot) and gateway.
Let’s go through a simplified version of the steps customized for your 4G-only hotspot scenario (no Wi-Fi router involved).
🪜 Steps: Wireless ADB via Mobile Hotspot (no router)
1️⃣ Turn on Developer options & USB debugging
-
On your M21:
Settings → Developer options → USB debugging → ON
2️⃣ Connect PC to your phone’s hotspot
-
On PC → connect to the Wi-Fi hotspot created by your phone.
-
Check that PC gets an IP like
192.168.43.xxx(you can confirm withipconfig).
3️⃣ Temporarily connect USB cable
Connect your phone to PC via USB (just for the initial setup).
In your PowerShell or Command Prompt:
adb devices
Make sure you see your device ID (e.g., RZ8N31B700L device).
4️⃣ Enable TCP/IP ADB on port 5555
adb tcpip 5555
You’ll get:
restarting in TCP mode port: 5555
5️⃣ Find your phone’s hotspot IP
Your phone’s hotspot IP is usually 192.168.43.1.
If you want to confirm it:
adb shell ip addr show wlan1
→ look for something like:
inet 192.168.43.1/24
6️⃣ Unplug the USB cable
Now the phone is running adb over Wi-Fi on port 5555.
7️⃣ Connect wirelessly
On your PC:
adb connect 192.168.43.1:5555
You should see:
connected to 192.168.43.1:5555
Confirm:
adb devices
✅ Output:
192.168.43.1:5555 device
🎉 That’s it — fully wireless ADB!
Your PC is now connected to your M21 over the phone’s own hotspot (no router, no cable).
You can now:
-
Run
adb shell -
Install APKs (
adb install myapp.apk) -
Use Chrome DevTools → Remote Devices to debug mobile Chrome pages wirelessly.
Would you like me to guide you next through connecting Chrome DevTools to the phone wirelessly now that ADB over Wi-Fi is set up?
--snipped--> adb connect 10.173.159.180:5555
connected to 10.173.159.180:5555
ravi-user> adb devices
List of devices attached
RZ--snipped-- device
10.173.159.180:5555 device
--snipped-->
🧭 Steps to debug mobile Chrome wirelessly
1️⃣ Make sure Chrome is open on your PC.
-
Visit:
chrome://inspect/#devices
2️⃣ Ensure your phone stays awake and Chrome is open on it.
-
Open any webpage on mobile Chrome.
3️⃣ In the “Remote Target” section (on your PC Chrome), you should see your phone’s model name (e.g., SM-M215F).
-
It will show the tabs open on your phone.
-
If not visible immediately, wait a few seconds or refresh the page.
4️⃣ Click “Inspect” under the site you want to debug.
→ A full Chrome DevTools window opens — now completely wireless.
⚙️ Tips
-
Keep both devices on the same hotspot network (as you already have).
-
If the connection drops, reconnect using:
-
You can continue to use all DevTools features: Elements, Console, Network, etc.
Would you like me to also show how to automatically reconnect wirelessly in future sessions (so you don’t need the USB cable setup each time)?
Me: Its working. Awesome! U have done a great job in guiding me through this. Now even for React Native kind of stuff I would be able to do some remote debugging.
CG: 🎉 That’s fantastic news! I’m really glad it’s working perfectly — and you’ve now unlocked one of the most useful developer workflows 👏
Yes, you’re absolutely right — the same wireless ADB connection works beautifully for:
-
React Native development (Metro bundler /
npx react-native run-android) -
Chrome DevTools debugging for web content
-
Logcat, shell commands, APK installs, and more
You’ve now got the full cable-free Android debugging setup — ideal when your PC ports are hard to reach.
If you like, I can next show you how to:
-
Make this wireless debugging persist across reboots (so no USB setup each time), and/or
-
Use it directly with React Native’s Metro server (so
adb reverseand live reload work wirelessly too).
Would you like to continue with one (or both) of those?
Me: Let me take it slowly. First I think I need to record this procedure so that I can easily redo it in future. Then, later on, I will look at perhaps both the optons u hv mentioned.
CG: That’s a very wise approach 👍 — document what you’ve successfully done while it’s fresh in your mind, and later you can layer on the automation and React Native-specific steps.
A good outline for your personal notes might be:
-
Initial USB Setup
-
Enable Developer Options → USB Debugging
-
Connect via USB
-
Verify with
adb devices
-
-
Switch to Wireless
-
Run
adb tcpip 5555 -
Find phone IP (e.g.,
adb shell ip addr show wlan1) -
Disconnect USB
-
Connect wirelessly:
adb connect <ip>:5555
-
-
Confirm Connection
-
adb devices→ shows<ip>:5555 device
-
-
Use Cases
-
Open
chrome://inspect/#devices→ Inspect mobile Chrome tabs -
Use React Native, install APKs, etc.
-
-
Reconnection Tip
-
If connection drops:
adb connect <ip>:5555
-
...
===========
| ... |), since it treats that as an actual <table>.If you want no visible borders, you’ll need to avoid using Markdown tables and instead use plain HTML for layout — GitHub supports inline HTML inside .md files.
Here’s a clean alternative that achieves the same side-by-side display without any borders:
<p align="center">
<img src="ScrShots/Mobile-DarkMode.jpeg" width="250" alt="Mobile Dark Mode">
<img src="ScrShots/Mobile-LightMode.jpeg" width="250" alt="Mobile Light Mode">
</p>
<p align="center">
<em>Mobile Dark Mode</em> <em>Mobile Light Mode</em>
</p>
✅ Advantages:
-
No borders (pure inline HTML layout)
-
Renders perfectly on GitHub and in VSCode Markdown preview
-
You can control spacing with
or CSS if needed -
Still semantic and lightweight
You can use the same pattern for your onboarding toast or Choose Mode screenshots too.
Would you like me to show a version with consistent center alignment for captions (similar to your earlier table look but still borderless)?
Me: The captions are not in the center of the image horizontally.
Looks like we need to use HTML table as well. See How can one display images side by side in a GitHub README.md? [closed], https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24319505/how-can-one-display-images-side-by-side-in-a-github-readme-md
If you want precise horizontal alignment of the captions centered below each image, using a borderless HTML table is indeed the cleanest and most reliable approach for GitHub READMEs.
Here’s a version that matches your original Markdown layout but without any visible borders, since inline HTML tables don’t show table borders by default on GitHub:
<table align="center">
<tr>
<td align="center">
<img src="ScrShots/Mobile-DarkMode.jpeg" width="250" alt="Mobile Dark Mode"><br>
<em>Mobile Dark Mode</em>
</td>
<td width="60"></td> <!-- space between images -->
<td align="center">
<img src="ScrShots/Mobile-LightMode.jpeg" width="250" alt="Mobile Light Mode"><br>
<em>Mobile Light Mode</em>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
✅ Advantages:
-
Centered captions below each image
-
No borders on GitHub (HTML
<table>defaults are unbordered) -
Works reliably in both GitHub and VSCode Markdown preview
-
Adjustable spacing via the middle
<td width="60">
Would you like me to give a similar snippet for your single-image “Mobile Onboarding Toast” layout too — so that all three sections use a consistent visual format?
...
[git commit -m "Fix for GitHub showing border for Markdown tables"]
GitHub’s Markdown renderer applies its own CSS, which gives <table> elements a subtle border by default.
To remove it, you can override that with inline CSS on the <table> tag.
Here’s your same snippet, with a no-border style added that works well on GitHub:
<table align="center" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;">
<tr>
...✅ Notes:
-
GitHub ignores most external
<style>blocks, but inline styles like this are respected. -
border-collapse: collapse; border: none;removes both outer and inner borders. -
Works cleanly in both VSCode preview and GitHub README view.
Would you like me to give the matching single-image HTML (for your “Mobile Onboarding Toast”) in the same no-border style too?
Me: Can I try this out directly on github without a commit
CG: Good question — and the short answer is: ✅ Yes, but only using GitHub’s web editor in a temporary branch or fork.
Here are your safe options, depending on what you want to test:
🧪 Option 1: Test in the web editor (without committing to main)
-
Open your repo on GitHub.
-
Navigate to your
README.md. -
Click the pencil ✏️ icon (Edit this file).
-
Paste your HTML code.
-
Scroll down and click “Preview” (next to “Edit file”).
-
This shows how GitHub Markdown will render it — borders and all — without committing yet.
-
-
If you like it, you can either cancel or commit to a new branch (not
main).
This method doesn’t affect your repo unless you explicitly commit.
🧱 Option 2: Use a scratch / test branch
If you prefer to test repeatedly:
-
Create a new branch like
readme-test. -
Edit
README.mdthere and commit freely. -
You can view the rendered version instantly at
https://github.com/<user>/<repo>/blob/readme-test/README.md. -
Once satisfied, merge into
mainor delete the branch.
🧭 Tip
GitHub’s preview view in the web editor uses the exact same Markdown renderer as your repo’s front page — so what you see there will match what users see later.
Would you like me to give you a quick one-liner GitHub URL trick that opens the README in edit/preview mode directly?
style attributes (and some other HTML) for security, so adding style="" can break the preview.
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