Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

HTML HTML Video and Audio (Retired) Captioning Video Create a Caption File

Posted by Bappy Golder
Bappy Golder
13,449 Points

I'm getting the following error for web VTT

Any idea why I'm getting the following error in the VTT validator:

You are hopeless, RTFS. (0ms)

Line 4, column 9: No decimal separator (".") found.
Line 8, column 9: No decimal separator (".") found.
Line 12, column 9: No decimal separator (".") found.
Line 16, column 9: No decimal separator (".") found.
Line 20, column 9: No decimal separator (".") found.

Here's my code:

WEBVTT FILE

0
00:00:00:500 --> 00:00:05:000
[truck engine]

1
00:00:06:000 --> 00:00:10:000
[birds chirping]

2
00:00:13:000 --> 00:00:16:000
[school bus engine]

3
00:00:17:000 --> 00:00:24:350
[water flowing]

4
00:00:24:350 --> 00:00:30:000
[water flow continues]

1 Answer

Marcus Parsons
Marcus Parsons
15,719 Points

Hey Bappy,

The last set of numbers in each time code represents milliseconds and has to have a decimal point separating it from the other numbers, not a colon. i.e. "00:00:00:500" needs to be "00:00:00.500".

Here's what I mean:

WEBVTT FILE

0
00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:05.000
[truck engine]

1
00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:10.000
[birds chirping]

2
00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:16.000
[school bus engine]

3
00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:24.350
[water flowing]

4
00:00:24.350 --> 00:00:30.000
[water flow continues]
Bappy Golder
Bappy Golder
13,449 Points

That was subtle! You are a legend Marcus cheers for that.

Marcus Parsons
Marcus Parsons
15,719 Points

You're very welcome! Before I go, I want to impart some more knowledge on ya :) If you look at your error log, you see where it says "Line 4, column 9" and it says there's no decimal found? Column 9 is actually exactly where that : is in your original file that has to be replaced. Columns, in text, refer to each individual character in a line. So, at column 1, there is a 0, at 2 there is a 0, at 3 there is a : and so on up until the error hits at column 9 where that pesky colon is we had to replace! haha Now hopefully you've learned a little more about error tracing :)

Bappy Golder
Bappy Golder
13,449 Points

Yes thanks for that Marcus very handy to know. I knew something like that existed but was never so confident about it. Cheers again.