Finally, a Markdown editor for Windows | Hacker News Reader

Finally, a Markdown editor for Windows

markdownpad.com

79 pointsegw38 comments

I never really understood the point of these editors. Isn't the whole point of Markdown that you don't need to think about layout until you publish it? (which is when you make a small number of superficial fixes and that's it)

Yes, that is the whole point of markdown. However, a good markdown editor will provide syntax highlighting, keyboard shortcuts, time stamps, etc.

The split view is nice because you can visualize the final product, but it is the least of the features offered by a good markdown editor. I personally use Aptana (since I use it for other stuff), but I have Markdown installed on my computer too. It is an excellent markdown editor.

I recently needed to create a markdown doc for the first time and didn't have time to figure out the syntax. Using an editor was very helpful. I'll still use the editor since it's easier to create a doc that way and eventually I'll figure out the syntax as I use it more.

Things can get a little hairy when it comes to nesting block quotes, list elements, code blocks, etc. In those cases, the plaintext fidelity is fine, but the parsed output might be a bit off from what you've intended.

These types of editors help with that case.

A friend of mine who knows these guys got me an early preview and I was impressed with the speed of the Live Preview.

Now to be a Debbie Downer, if you have VS installed, this addon is pretty good http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/0855e23e-4c4c-...

All of the markdown editors I saw are two column layout.

Are there any state-of-the-art inline markdown editor? It will display & edit source only on the cursor context, the rest shows as rendered

I don't like mentioning Emacs every time there is an article about another editor but as expected it does have a markdown-mode (inline). I use it but AFAIK it is a seperate download. Check the Emacs Wiki.

Correctly if I am wrong, I thought vim/emcas is mainly a CLI editor? You really need to have a graphics environment to display some of the advanced Markdown features, e.g. line height, tables, subscript, superscript, non-fixed width and fixed with font with markdown idention, etc.

Emacs can be pretty graphical depending on the mode (see Latex preview for AUCTex mode for example) but you're also right: I don't think Markdown mode supports the more advanced features you just mentioned.

(I wouldn't use Markdown for the advanced features I like it for its simplicity.)

Another Markdown editor for Windows, that I've been using: DownMarker https://bitbucket.org/wcoenen/downmarker

Any plans on supporting the extensions from PHP Markdown Extra, specifically definition lists, tables, and abbreviations? A good Markdown implementation that supports these is Discount (http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~orc/Code/discount/).

I've had several requests for MultiMarkdown support (http://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/features/), is PHP Markdown Extra similar to that? I believe MMD supports tables.

Either way, yes, I plan on adding more rendering options for sure.

Support pandoc! I have never introduced pandoc to a markdown/multimarkdown user who did not prefer pandoc. In addition to an extension of markdown syntax pandoc has a remarkable in/export system that works across a large number of formats.

It would be nice if the web site would tell us what license governed the use of this software. It sounds like a useful program, but there would be no point for me to spend time installing it if it were not free for commercial use (and free of adware, etc.).

Hey I'm the creator of MarkdownPad, it is free for commercial use and has no adware. I'll add that information to the site, thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Norton detected some virus in the installation file! What's going on? I was just going to try out this awesome pad! Btw, the "threat" is something called "WS.Reputation.1", anyone having the same issue?

Just doing a quick Google search, that appears to be a popular false positive generated by Norton.

Clarification on the false positive and a workaround: http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Internet-Security-Nort...

You can report it as a false positive here: https://submit.symantec.com/false_positive/

Reputation is Symantec's attempt at crowdsourced whitelisting. It sucks for small Windows software companies because if their products haven't achieved widespread usage they can be flagged by Norton AV for lack of reputation.

Here's a web editor you can also use in your projects http://markitup.jaysalvat.com/examples/markdown/

Another editor bound to one operating system. That's one of the awesome points of Sublime Text, usable on Linux, Windows or Mac.. in short, i won't use it because of that.

I think it's great! Mou plays to the strengths of OSX, MarkdownPad plays to the strengths of windows: they both have UI's that 'fit in properly' with their native environment. I've always found that ST feels slightly out of place in windows (maybe less so on osx).

Also, thanks a lot for releasing MarkdownPad. I've been looking for a markdown editor for windows that i could recommend for my markdown-driven presentation app that i'm working on at the moment, looks like this is it! Expect some inbound linkage :)

Oh, and once it gets out of beta, don't be shy to charge for it! (even if you open source it, too - i'd pay $5-10 to save the hassle of opening up VS).

Any plans on releasing the source? I'm sure there are others who'd love to help with the project.

Eventually yes.

In other words, "No."

I often see developers claiming they will release their projects' source "real soon now, once I've cleaned it up." It never happens.

This (binary) is still useful though, thanks for releasing it.

That icon resembles something from the Adobe suite, and I don't think that's a particularly good idea. It also doesn't make a good first impression.

On a more general note, the situation with menu bars and toolbars on Windows sure is atrocious. Ever since Microsoft's embracement of the ribbon interface for what seems like everything in the world, menu bars and toolbars sure have lacked a lot of love.

And using them, no matter whether it's the native or .NET/Office 2003 (ugh) style, sure make for some not-particularly-nice-on-the-eye interfaces. And I do mean most of the Windows ecosystem in general, not just this app.

I think a good feature would be an option to sync scrolling between the editor and the preview.

It's definitely on the list, thanks for the feedback!

I never needed one of those editors. Vim works fine and I do not need previews. Am I alone?

notepad

Hmm.. it's Mou (http://mouapp.com/) with bad typography and the usual Windows clutter :)

Because having an options menu is "clutter".

If you're going to use menu buttons for formatting, you could just get rid of the left pane altogether, use it as a WYSIWYG editor and export to markdown. So, yes, in my opinion it is clutter when you don't need it.

The toolbars and status bar can both be hidden under the View menu.

That's nice, although I mantain my point.

I'd like to add that, despite my bitterness, I appreciate having this on windows too, so congrats/thanks for the app :)

The typography seems to be at least partly fixable. Go into Tools/Options and you can easily change the editor font, or with quite a lot more work change the preview fonts.

Evan, since we're talking typography, a few suggestions...

* Why default the editor to such an ugly font as Courier New? There's no real reason to use a monospaced font at all here, but if you must go monospaced at least put Consolas in front. It would be even better to use a nice proportional font such as Georgia - both in the markdown editor and in the CSS editor within the options dialog.

* Don't limit the font size selector to even numbers when you get above 12. I want Georgia 15! :-)

* The preview window text is awfully small on a high-density monitor like my ThinkPad W510's 145 pixel per inch display. I see how to edit the CSS to make the text bigger (although in a quick test it didn't seem to work at all - will fiddle with it some more) - but with every element sized in px it's a bit of a pain to just make everything bigger. Maybe size everything in percents and just have an overall px size on the body, or some similar technique? Then I could just change one number and make everything bigger.

Thanks for the great feedback! I'm taking notes on everything you mentioned - will work on these for the next release.

Would you mind sending me an email, evan [at] markdownpad.com? I'd love to talk typography some more.

I have to disagree with you regarding mono-spaced fonts; atleast if people want more than a wysiwyg markdown editor. The structure of markdown documents is much easier to discern with a mono-spaced font.

Do you edit a lot of markdown text in a font that is not mono-spaced?

The icon is a total rip of Adobes CS suite. Surely you could come up with something more original.

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