[Feature] Extension should have an option to avoid refresh

[digitarald]

It should be possible to run some parts of webhint without refreshing, so it can be used to test specific states of web apps.

Surely some features in the extension require refresh to access resources, while some could be done without. Lighthouse runs into the same issue of forcing a refresh.

One idea is highlighting refresh-forcing options or having a "No refresh" button that disables all needs-refresh options. Another option might be smartly not refreshing when only no-refresh options are checked.

[antross]

Good suggestion! I've been thinking about this a bit as well. Ultimately I'd love to see us get to a point where we can scan "continuously" once webhint is enabled, but that's probably further out. Avoiding refresh could be a good intermediate step.

One variation on this idea I've been debating is having an option where users to choose when to "stop" a scan. This approach technically would still include a refresh, but would allow users to reach a particular state before we "snapshot" items like the DOM. Would this potentially work for the scenarios you're thinking about?

[digitarald]

"continuously" is also great, maybe worth another bug to track this.

One variation on this idea I've been debating is having an option where users to choose when to "stop" a scan

This might work for some other cases, but my case would be clicking the app in a specific state (like hitting image upload in a CMS to open the modal upload overlay) and then snapshotting webhint recommendations for that specific UI state.