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I love Markdown. I'm a bit surprised, though, that you still can't open a .md file by default in most web browsers. It seems like it should be quite trivial to

by rkp8000 9mo ago

I love Markdown. I'm a bit surprised, though, that you still can't open a .md file by default in most web browsers. It seems like it should be quite trivial to have the browser automatically convert it to html and display it.

embedding-shape 9mo ago
Yeah, also missing a built-in JS API for turning Markdown into safe HTML. Sure, there are lots of different implementations, but maybe start with something small at least.
anildash 9mo ago
This is a good call. I know it's been suggested multiple times over the years; I wonder what the rationale was for rejecting the format, or at least having the option to render a file when it's loaded. (Maybe a "display as HTML" button or the like would be required before it would be rendered.)
- chrismorgan 9mo ago
  “Markdown” is a family of writing formats. There is no one “Markdown”. It’s completely unsuitable for direct inclusion in the web platform. Related reading: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7763.html https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7763.html text/markdown registration.
  - Ringz 9mo ago
    The overlap between these Markdown formats is actually larger than with many other formats. Possibly even larger than HTML’s overlap back when MS Explorer was the dominant browser.
    - chrismorgan 9mo ago
      > Possibly even larger than HTML’s overlap back when MS Explorer was the dominant browser. No way. You were never left in doubt about whether a normal HTML tag would work, or whether tables were available or would become a jumbled illegible mess, or whether a line break in the source would become a space or a hard break. And that’s just the first three things that occur to me.
  - yencabulator 9mo ago
    You have to be willingly ignoring CommonMark, these days. I understand it doesn't have all the extensions one might hope, but to not parse the basics like the examples in the spec say is just doing everyone a disservice.
VerifiedReports 9mo ago
As I was griping above, you usually can't just view a Markdown file with formatting applied at all. I think MAYBE Notepad has been updated just recently to render it, but otherwise... you're looking at plain text with a bunch of formatting characters in it. Why? It's baffling. Where are the simple Markdown READERS?
- happyopossum 9mo ago
  Your plain text editor is the markdown reader. That’s the point.
  - nullhole 9mo ago
    It really would be nice to have a convenient renderer for it though. It's genuinely surprising something like firefox doesn't have a markdown reader builtin already.
    - jdechko 9mo ago
      If you’re on a Mac, I recommend qlmarkdown. It’s a customizable quick look renderer for markdown (md) files. https://github.com/sbarex/QLMarkdown https://github.com/sbarex/QLMarkdown
    - matijsvzuijlen 9mo ago
      I wrote one for my own use (on Linux): https://github.com/mvz/mdv https://github.com/mvz/mdv
  - nacozarina 9mo ago
    and it looks like poo, that’s the other point
    - VerifiedReports 9mo ago
      Exactly. You can always count on someone to come back with, "That's why it's so great! You just read it in a plain-text editor!" Why does anyone have to point out how dumb it is to litter your "plain text" file with formatting characters that are never respected?
xigoi 9mo ago
That would require Markdown to be standardized. (There is the CommonMark standard, but it’s extremely complex and still ambiguous.)
- cdmckay 9mo ago
  You could still support a subset of the most common features like bold, italic, strike, bullets, links, etc. Isn’t the beauty of MD supposed to be that if you can’t render it it should still look fine as plaintext?
  - xigoi 9mo ago
    Even these basics are not consistent. See my Markdown Monster: https://git.sr.ht/~xigoi/markdown-monster/blob/master/monster.md https://git.sr.ht/~xigoi/markdown-monster/blob/master/monste...
    - yencabulator 9mo ago
      There should be only one correct interpretation of that according to CommonMark. Software is faulty for sure and a lot of the these "markdown converters" are pre-AI slop code but at least there is a carefully written spec now. (That dude who coined the name Markdown is being a dick about other people finishing his abandoned idea is another issue and not the fault of CommonMark.)
  - inopinatus 9mo ago
    The problem for web browsers is that markdown is technically a superset of HTML.
    - bborud 9mo ago
      Why is this a problem? To me it sounds like a it would be an advantage because you have everything you need to render it already built into the software.
      - 9mo ago
wernsey 9mo ago
I've taken to using Markdeep [1] for this. You write your markdown file, but add the code snippet at the bottom of yor document and save it with a .md.html extension. Then when you double-click it it opens and renders in your browser. I save my notes in a Google Drive, and it's now replaced all the note taking apps I've tried over the years [1] https://casual-effects.com/markdeep/ https://casual-effects.com/markdeep/

by rkp8000 9mo ago

embedding-shape 9mo ago

Yeah, also missing a built-in JS API for turning Markdown into safe HTML. Sure, there are lots of different implementations, but maybe start with something small at least.

anildash 9mo ago

This is a good call. I know it's been suggested multiple times over the years; I wonder what the rationale was for rejecting the format, or at least having the option to render a file when it's loaded. (Maybe a "display as HTML" button or the like would be required before it would be rendered.)

chrismorgan 9mo ago
“Markdown” is a family of writing formats. There is no one “Markdown”. It’s completely unsuitable for direct inclusion in the web platform. Related reading: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7763.html https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7763.html text/markdown registration.
- Ringz 9mo ago
  The overlap between these Markdown formats is actually larger than with many other formats. Possibly even larger than HTML’s overlap back when MS Explorer was the dominant browser.
  - chrismorgan 9mo ago
    > Possibly even larger than HTML’s overlap back when MS Explorer was the dominant browser. No way. You were never left in doubt about whether a normal HTML tag would work, or whether tables were available or would become a jumbled illegible mess, or whether a line break in the source would become a space or a hard break. And that’s just the first three things that occur to me.
- yencabulator 9mo ago
  You have to be willingly ignoring CommonMark, these days. I understand it doesn't have all the extensions one might hope, but to not parse the basics like the examples in the spec say is just doing everyone a disservice.

VerifiedReports 9mo ago

As I was griping above, you usually can't just view a Markdown file with formatting applied at all. I think MAYBE Notepad has been updated just recently to render it, but otherwise... you're looking at plain text with a bunch of formatting characters in it. Why? It's baffling. Where are the simple Markdown READERS?

happyopossum 9mo ago
Your plain text editor is the markdown reader. That’s the point.
- nullhole 9mo ago
  It really would be nice to have a convenient renderer for it though. It's genuinely surprising something like firefox doesn't have a markdown reader builtin already.
  - jdechko 9mo ago
    If you’re on a Mac, I recommend qlmarkdown. It’s a customizable quick look renderer for markdown (md) files. https://github.com/sbarex/QLMarkdown https://github.com/sbarex/QLMarkdown
  - matijsvzuijlen 9mo ago
    I wrote one for my own use (on Linux): https://github.com/mvz/mdv https://github.com/mvz/mdv
- nacozarina 9mo ago
  and it looks like poo, that’s the other point
  - VerifiedReports 9mo ago
    Exactly. You can always count on someone to come back with, "That's why it's so great! You just read it in a plain-text editor!" Why does anyone have to point out how dumb it is to litter your "plain text" file with formatting characters that are never respected?

xigoi 9mo ago

That would require Markdown to be standardized. (There is the CommonMark standard, but it’s extremely complex and still ambiguous.)

cdmckay 9mo ago
You could still support a subset of the most common features like bold, italic, strike, bullets, links, etc. Isn’t the beauty of MD supposed to be that if you can’t render it it should still look fine as plaintext?
- xigoi 9mo ago
  Even these basics are not consistent. See my Markdown Monster: https://git.sr.ht/~xigoi/markdown-monster/blob/master/monster.md https://git.sr.ht/~xigoi/markdown-monster/blob/master/monste...
  - yencabulator 9mo ago
    There should be only one correct interpretation of that according to CommonMark. Software is faulty for sure and a lot of the these "markdown converters" are pre-AI slop code but at least there is a carefully written spec now. (That dude who coined the name Markdown is being a dick about other people finishing his abandoned idea is another issue and not the fault of CommonMark.)
- inopinatus 9mo ago
  The problem for web browsers is that markdown is technically a superset of HTML.
  - bborud 9mo ago
    Why is this a problem? To me it sounds like a it would be an advantage because you have everything you need to render it already built into the software.
    - 9mo ago

wernsey 9mo ago

I've taken to using Markdeep [1] for this. You write your markdown file, but add the code snippet at the bottom of yor document and save it with a .md.html extension. Then when you double-click it it opens and renders in your browser. I save my notes in a Google Drive, and it's now replaced all the note taking apps I've tried over the years [1] https://casual-effects.com/markdeep/ https://casual-effects.com/markdeep/