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The issue here is that it is meaningless when viewed locally. GitHub made the mistake of turning "README", a file you'd usually read when you download some code
by daptaq 5y ago
The issue here is that it is meaningless when viewed locally. GitHub made the mistake of turning "README", a file you'd usually read when you download some code into a website format. A README is broken if lines aren't broken, it is full of badges or nonsense like a table of contents (as OP says, a README is not a manual).
- asutekku 5y agoTo be fair, i haven’t read a local readme in years. Markdown in github is hands down miles better and provides more value than any local readme openable with any kind of computer could provide.
- daptaq 5y agoIMO a valid, human readable README file is will always also generate readable rendered output.
- atleta 5y agoIt's not. You can include images in markdown and markdown being markdown, the links are pretty easy to identify and then open. They don't have to, or better to say the shouldn't, be absolute http links. They can be just relative ones, and those will translate very nicely into file paths locally. If you just use a plain text editor you'll have to open them manually. A bit smarter one (e.g. most likely your IDE) will turn them into clickable file links. You're not losing anything but whoever looks at it on the web will have a lot better idea. And most people will look at it on the web first, before cloning the repo locally... Because it saves time.