I assume that the .html file is stored somewhere in the "Local Files" or in the "iCloud" location.

• In the same folder, tap the "+" button in the bottom toolbar.
• Enter a file name with a ".css" file extension -> this opens a new CSS file in a new tab.
• In the .html file, add a link tag to the head section as described at https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_link.asp 
• If you now open the web preview using the glasses icon while the tab with the .html file is open, you should see the CSS styles from the .css file applied. You can also open the web preview on the .css file and enter the path to the .html file in the address bar of the web preview. This allows you to preview the website while previewing the .css file without having to switch to the .html file first.

Alternatively, you can add the CSS directly to the .html file using a style tag in the header section as described at https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_style.asp.

The current version can already display tab characters. The next update of Textastic (9.6) will also support showing spaces and newlines. 

Ok, then it looks like this is actually a bug in Apple's Cocoa framework since both TextEdit and Xcode use NSDocument which should handle file saving and symbolic links correctly. 

I'll still try to reproduce the issue and report it to Apple. 

Ok, I'll try to reproduce the problem. I'm glad you catched the issue before it caused damage. 

Could you please send me a copy of the smb.conf file (or just the relevant parts of it) so I'm using the same settings?

Hmm, interesting, does Samba/SMB even support symbolic links (since it is a Windows protocol)?

What happens when you try to edit the same file using Apple's TextEdit? It uses the same NSDocument architecture provided by Apple's Cocoa framework that is also used by Textastic.

TextEdit and Xcode both use autosaving by default on a fresh installation of macOS, but you can configure it in System Preferences to also ask whether to save your changes or revert to the last explicit save when closing a file.

On iOS, autosave is absolutely the default - there is no explicit save command in Notes or Pages for example.

I do of course understand where you are coming from and why the ability to disable autosave would be useful, I was just responding to the claim that this was "non-standard" behaviour.

It is absolutely the standard on iOS and macOS and even required if you are editing files stored in iCloud or in the Files app so that multiple apps can edit the same file using file coordination.

Hmm, I just noticed that this is in the "Textastic for Mac" forum which doesn't have an SFTP client.

Are you having this issue on a Mac or on iOS? Is this when opening a local symbolic link on Mac?

Hello,

thanks for letting me know about this issue.

It should work if you download, edit and upload the file that the symbolic link links to.

Textastic should probably at least warn you when you are trying to upload to a symbolic link.

Can you please tell me which other editors handle this properly?

It could be related to the VPN connection. Can you connect to a server on a local network and check if you are seeing the same problem? Of course I understand if that is not possible.