Vscode-live-server: "Live Reload is not possible as body or head tag or defined tag is missing in HTML" warning shows on every reload

Created on 10 Sep 2017 · 28Comments · Source: ritwickdey/vscode-live-server

Every time I save a watched file, my page reloads, but in VS code the warning appears "Live Reload is not possible as body or head tag or defined tag is missing in HTML". I have to close the warning every time (very annoying) and there is no option to disable this warning.

closed enhancement

Source

skelesp

Most helpful comment

Same issue here. As per above.
@martonberecz
I think I found a solution - try creating the html file in the file explorer instead of powershell/terminal.

jonwow on 3 Aug 2019

👍4

All 28 comments

okay! It's added in new version. Add or tag in html. It will disappear.

ritwickdey on 10 Sep 2017

Without or tag live reload is not possible.

ritwickdey on 10 Sep 2017

Have you meant that? or am I getting wrong point? Let me know.

If you have better suggestion, you're also welcome.

ritwickdey on 10 Sep 2017

1) I don't understand the current behaviour, because the warning is saying that live reload won't work, but it is working... So, I think the warning comes at the wrong time. So this might be a bug... (or I don't fully understand the purpose of the warning :-) )

2) If this tag-problem occurs, I think it's better to show the warning only once in VS code and not on every save. And it might be better to show the warning in the console.

skelesp on 10 Sep 2017

Okay! I understand. And definitely as I always give priority on feedback, I am adding a settings so that we can turn off the warring message.

And If it is bug, can you tell me that what platform you are using? and please give a try as follow : ->

Make a new folder
Create a new HTML file.
Open the folder to VSCODE
type exclamation sign (!) and tab. (Emmet Snippet)
Start Live Server.

And now please tell me, is this working? or you're still getting the warning?.

ritwickdey on 10 Sep 2017

I want to know if it is a bug or not before releasing new version. Because it is working on my Windows 10

ritwickdey on 10 Sep 2017

It is working (without a warning) when I create a new file in new folder. So there must be something wrong in my file?

The structure of my file is :

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="TestApp">
    <head>
        </head>
        <body ng-controller="testCtrl">
        </body>
</html>

So I think there shouldn't be a warning, because I have head and body tags?

(I'm also working in windows 10)

skelesp on 10 Sep 2017

Is this not working for you?........ I tried....

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="TestApp">
    <head>
        </head>
        <body ng-controller="testCtrl">
        </body>
</html>

it is working for me....

ritwickdey on 10 Sep 2017

yes, it works if I try it with that simple structure, but with my complete code, it is still showing the warning.

Does it matter which code is between the head and body tags? I would expect that the existence of head/body-tags is enough? But apparently, some of my code between the head-tags or the body-tags is triggering that warning...

skelesp on 10 Sep 2017

This issue has been fixed with v2.1.1 update. Please update it from vscode marketplace 😄.

If you like the extension, please drop a review to vscode marketplace.

ritwickdey on 11 Sep 2017

vscode-error
vscode-error_second

Hello. Sorry for request, but I have same problem with LiveServer. When I create new document, type (!) and tab, VSCode create base html structur automaticly. But if i add some tags in head or body, than LiveReload warning than "Live Reload is not possible without body or head tag."

irakliykech on 24 Dec 2018

Same issue here. As per above.

martonberecz on 27 Feb 2019

Same issue here. As per above.
@martonberecz
I think I found a solution - try creating the html file in the file explorer instead of powershell/terminal.

jonwow on 3 Aug 2019

👍4

I had the same problem. I just "solved" it by pressing 'I understand - don't show again'.

meberg on 21 Aug 2019

👍1

I had the same problem. I just "solved" it by pressing 'I understand - don't show again'.

I had the same problem and tried the same step to 'Don't show again'. I had to reload the page in the browser and then make a change to the html file and save it in VSCode.

gordwelling on 15 Oct 2019

My HTML has body and head tag, and I am still getting the message ...

ChrisColeTech on 12 Dec 2019

I have just had the same problem having not had an issue for 12+ months.
A new .html file with exactly the same content would work so slightly confused. Ended up deleting my index.html and creating a new one then pasting the content over and it worked.
As a side note - my original .html file was created in the terminal and my "working" .html created in VSC as referenced above.
Strange one.

Adam-Ponting on 7 Jan 2020

👍2

Also having this problem

index (copy).html.txt

acestronautical on 16 Jan 2020

I've seen issues with the file encoding (UTF-16 has caused it to complain about HEAD or BODY missing)

vpopescu on 26 Apr 2020

I'm working with HTML5 which doesn't need these tags, and should have Live Server's snippet simply appended to the end of the document. Could you change the extension so that if </body> is not found, it just adds its code to the end and doesn't give this warning?

Tronic on 24 May 2020

I̵ ̵b̵e̵l̵i̵e̵v̵e̵ ̵t̵h̵i̵s̵ ̵m̵i̵g̵h̵t̵ ̵b̵e̵ ̵a̵ ̵p̵r̵o̵b̵l̵e̵m̵ ̵w̵i̵t̵h̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵e̵x̵t̵e̵n̵s̵i̵o̵n̵ ̵"̵B̵r̵o̵w̵s̵e̵r̵ ̵P̵r̵e̵v̵i̵e̵w̵"̵ ̵a̵t̵ ̵h̵t̵t̵p̵s̵:̵/̵/̵m̵a̵r̵k̵e̵t̵p̵l̵a̵c̵e̵.̵v̵i̵s̵u̵a̵l̵s̵t̵u̵d̵i̵o̵.̵c̵o̵m̵/̵i̵t̵e̵m̵s̵?̵i̵t̵e̵m̵N̵a̵m̵e̵=̵a̵u̵c̵h̵e̵n̵b̵e̵r̵g̵.̵v̵s̵c̵o̵d̵e̵-̵b̵r̵o̵w̵s̵e̵r̵-̵p̵r̵e̵v̵i̵e̵w̵.̵ ̵B̵u̵t̵ ̵I̵ ̵a̵d̵m̵i̵t̵ ̵i̵t̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵j̵u̵s̵t̵ ̵a̵ ̵g̵u̵e̵s̵s̵ ̵-̵ ̵I̵ ̵h̵a̵v̵e̵ ̵n̵o̵t̵ ̵d̵u̵g̵ ̵d̵e̵e̵p̵ ̵i̵n̵t̵o̵ ̵i̵t̵.̵
̵O̵n̵e̵ ̵w̵a̵y̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵s̵e̵e̵ ̵i̵f̵ ̵m̵y̵ ̵h̵u̵n̵c̵h̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵r̵i̵g̵h̵t̵,̵ ̵w̵o̵u̵l̵d̵ ̵b̵e̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵i̵n̵v̵e̵s̵t̵i̵g̵a̵t̵e̵ ̵i̵f̵ ̵t̵h̵i̵s̵ ̵i̵s̵s̵u̵e̵ ̵e̵v̵e̵r̵ ̵o̵c̵c̵u̵r̵s̵ ̵w̵h̵e̵n̵ ̵t̵h̵e̵ ̵L̵i̵v̵e̵ ̵S̵e̵r̵v̵e̵r̵ ̵e̵x̵t̵e̵n̵s̵i̵o̵n̵ ̵s̵e̵t̵t̵i̵n̵g̵ ̵"̵U̵s̵e̵ ̵B̵r̵o̵w̵s̵e̵r̵ ̵P̵r̵e̵v̵i̵e̵w̵"̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵u̵n̵c̵h̵e̵c̵k̵e̵d̵.̵
ONE work-around that works for me, whether you like it or not, is to click the reload button of the "Preview" browser.

henk9 on 24 Jun 2020

it happened to me too and it was very irritating so i turned it off from settings.json

"liveServer.settings.donotShowInfoMsg": true,
"liveServer.settings.donotVerifyTags":true,

mrmatata on 17 Jul 2020

it happened to me too and it was very irritating so i turned it off from settings.json

"liveServer.settings.donotVerifyTags": off,

How did you get this working? It would appear that this takes true or false rather than off but I couldn't get rid of the warning or get live reloads working with any value.

Tronic on 22 Jul 2020

it happened to me too and it was very irritating so i turned it off from settings.json
"liveServer.settings.donotVerifyTags": off,

How did you get this working? It would appear that this takes true or false rather than off but I couldn't get rid of the warning or get live reloads working with any value.

i think this did it for me
"liveServer.settings.donotShowInfoMsg": true,
"liveServer.settings.donotVerifyTags":true,

mrmatata on 28 Jul 2020

@mrmatata That gets rid of the message but auto reloading still doesn't work unless there is </body> in the document (no other tags are needed).

Tronic on 29 Jul 2020

I had the same problem. I just "solved" it by pressing 'I understand - don't show again'.

This somehow fixed it for me a s well, btw I know this is old but still happening in version 5.6.1

ryancbolton on 13 Nov 2020

Hey everyone, so today I got the live server to work by downloading an older version (v 1.0) and it worked so far. I'm not getting that dreaded live server needs a head or body tag message and more importantly my webpage reloads without me having to hit ctrl + R (or F5). I haven't received any issues, you can give a try and let me know

christian-white1 on 6 Mar 2021

For anyone downloading an older version, please note that you'll have to make consistent changes for the web page to refresh by itself. In other, words if you take a break from coding you'll probably have to refresh the page a couple times after making a change, usually I have to manually refresh 3 times before live server works.

christian-white1 on 6 Mar 2021

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