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The problem which this is trying to solve is that clients like WYSIWYG and developers want control over their markup. But, why not make a simple WYSIWYG -> Mar

The problem which this is trying to solve is that clients like WYSIWYG and developers want control over their markup. But, why not make a simple WYSIWYG -> Markdown editor? I've never found an elegant and mature editor which does this

emp_ 12y ago
While the opposite of your suggestion, the side by side editor -> preview (like Atom has) is so elegant to me.
- teleclimber 12y ago
  Really? When I re-read in the preview window and spot a typo I naturally click in the preview window to set the caret there. But of course nothing happens. I have to map what I am seeing on the right to what is on the left, find the typo again, and then do the fix. To each their own but I find it to be awful UX.
  - dredmorbius 12y ago
    Smarts in the preview pane to reposition to the selected point in the edit file would be useful. Highlighting corresponding text -- e.g., highlight a passage on preview and have the editor scroll to the top of that section and highlight it.
mynegation 12y ago
I was wondering about the solution to this very problem. I, personally, like the approach of markdown and live-updated rendered HTML side-by-side with toolbar buttons for markup, the approach that MarkdownPad[1] takes. [1] http://markdownpad.com/ http://markdownpad.com/
talles 12y ago
This. I'm still waiting for an editor that let's swap editing between WYSIWYG and raw markup (for Markdown). (I could try to do it myself, but I'm not much of a front-end guy).
pothibo 12y ago
WYSIWYGs have its own set of problems and this is why most popular websites have WYSIWYG editor but do have Markdown. Some issues: - Portability - Error prone (want to close a bold style but can't unless you copy/paste text) - Doesn't work well on mobile/tablet - Clutter the HTML as the rendering of WYSIWYG needs a lot of wrapper
- blumkvist 12y ago
  >this is why no popular websites have WYSIWYG editor but do have Markdown. huh?
- debaserab2 12y ago
  Both Wordpress and Gmail have full blown wysiwyg, and many other sites such as facebook and Twitter have wysiwyg-like features in their messaging/commenting. What site bigger than these use markdown?
  - pothibo 12y ago
    Wordpress WYSIWYG (TinyMCE) is notorious for bugs - I experienced them first hand - and it's not a website, it's a software people install. Big difference. I had forgotten about Gmail, so I guess this is the exception to the rules. On the other hand, markdown is supported on Reddit, Stack Overflow, Github, and many more.
    - debaserab2 12y ago
      Stack Overflow and Github's primary audience is developers. Reddit's started out with a mostly developer audience and still today has a huge crossover. It absolutely makes sense to support mark down if your audience is developers. I don't find gmail to be an exception to the rule at all - all the big webmail providers offer full WYSIWYG support.
  - calebegg 12y ago
    What "wysiwyg-like" features do Twitter and Facebook have? I'm not aware of any.
bambax 12y ago
A few years ago I developed a rich text to markdown converter, completely client side in the browser: http://markitdown.medusis.com http://markitdown.medusis.com It could be a first step to build what you're descibing.

emp_ 12y ago

While the opposite of your suggestion, the side by side editor -> preview (like Atom has) is so elegant to me.

teleclimber 12y ago
Really? When I re-read in the preview window and spot a typo I naturally click in the preview window to set the caret there. But of course nothing happens. I have to map what I am seeing on the right to what is on the left, find the typo again, and then do the fix. To each their own but I find it to be awful UX.
- dredmorbius 12y ago
  Smarts in the preview pane to reposition to the selected point in the edit file would be useful. Highlighting corresponding text -- e.g., highlight a passage on preview and have the editor scroll to the top of that section and highlight it.

mynegation 12y ago

I was wondering about the solution to this very problem. I, personally, like the approach of markdown and live-updated rendered HTML side-by-side with toolbar buttons for markup, the approach that MarkdownPad[1] takes. [1] http://markdownpad.com/ http://markdownpad.com/

talles 12y ago

This. I'm still waiting for an editor that let's swap editing between WYSIWYG and raw markup (for Markdown). (I could try to do it myself, but I'm not much of a front-end guy).

pothibo 12y ago

WYSIWYGs have its own set of problems and this is why most popular websites have WYSIWYG editor but do have Markdown. Some issues: - Portability - Error prone (want to close a bold style but can't unless you copy/paste text) - Doesn't work well on mobile/tablet - Clutter the HTML as the rendering of WYSIWYG needs a lot of wrapper

blumkvist 12y ago
>this is why no popular websites have WYSIWYG editor but do have Markdown. huh?
debaserab2 12y ago
Both Wordpress and Gmail have full blown wysiwyg, and many other sites such as facebook and Twitter have wysiwyg-like features in their messaging/commenting. What site bigger than these use markdown?
- pothibo 12y ago
  Wordpress WYSIWYG (TinyMCE) is notorious for bugs - I experienced them first hand - and it's not a website, it's a software people install. Big difference. I had forgotten about Gmail, so I guess this is the exception to the rules. On the other hand, markdown is supported on Reddit, Stack Overflow, Github, and many more.
  - debaserab2 12y ago
    Stack Overflow and Github's primary audience is developers. Reddit's started out with a mostly developer audience and still today has a huge crossover. It absolutely makes sense to support mark down if your audience is developers. I don't find gmail to be an exception to the rule at all - all the big webmail providers offer full WYSIWYG support.
- calebegg 12y ago
  What "wysiwyg-like" features do Twitter and Facebook have? I'm not aware of any.

bambax 12y ago

A few years ago I developed a rich text to markdown converter, completely client side in the browser: http://markitdown.medusis.com http://markitdown.medusis.com It could be a first step to build what you're descibing.