

Show HN: Scribble - Simple Markdown Wikis - choxi
http://www.tryscribble.com/

======
lukifer
Beautiful; this is exactly the type of minimalist wiki I've been wanting, but
never got around to making for myself. A few points of feedback:

\- The pricing model is unclear. Are the account upgrades a one-time purchase,
or a monthly cost? The amount seems reasonable for the former, and too much
for the latter.

\- One of the great things about wikis is the ability to create new pages from
within the content, just by typing [[new page]] or whatever. It would be great
if clicking an empty link spawned a new page form rather than a 404.

\- Once immersed in a wiki's content, the title bar should disappear, or
become less prominent in some way. If I'm using this to share info with
friends or collaborators (the best use for a wiki), we want to focus on our
content, not the site itself.

Nice job.

~~~
choxi
thanks a lot for the tips! If you don't mind, I was going to shoot you an
email to pick your brain some more.

------
p4bl0
The name is unfortunate, Scribble is also the name of Racket's documentation
tool[1] (which can be used for the same kind of purpose: writing prose and
publishing it).

[1] <http://docs.racket-lang.org/scribble/index.html>

~~~
Tyr42
Indeed, when I click here, I was expecting a nice presentation of it. scribble
is actually quite a nice little markup language.

~~~
dfc
The _"simple markdown"_ part of the title did not ruin the surprise?

------
mekarpeles
Have you guys seen Aaron Swartz' jottit (<http://www.jottit.com>)?

Same idea - all it takes is a text area to produce a version controlled,
markdown website.

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ahoge
It doesn't support fenced code blocks (from GFM). That's kinda inconvenient.
Uhm... it actually does, but the preview does not.

E.g.:

    
    
        ```ruby
          def foo
        	puts 'bar'
          end
        ```
    

This results in a `pre>code.ruby` block as it should, but it does not apply
any code highlighting nor does it work in the preview.

I really like the idea (I always wanted some private markdown wiki I can
conveniently access from anywhere without having to set it up and maintain it
myself), but without history/diff its usefulness is somewhat hindered.

Edit: Add "max-width: 100%" to "p img". Code inside paragraphs should be also
18px, not 12px.

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cabalamat
In MediaWiki, to create a new page, I create a link to it, then click on that
link abd edit the new page. In Scribble, this workflow doesn't work; maybe you
should add that functionality.

Also, why do I have to repeat myself and say "[next page](next-page)"? I
prefer the MediaWiki syntax where I can just say "[[next page]]"

------
Dejital
Also see Gollum[1], a wiki that runs locally from many markup formats
including markdown.

[1] <https://github.com/github/gollum/>

------
handsomeransoms
Please don't ask for a password without HTTPS.

------
pyre
In the preview, there is no margin below the <pre> blocks, which I find
annoying. I've tried adding different types of text blocks underneath it, but
I'm unable to force more bottom margin.

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evolve2k
With your screenshots please show us the diff page and the history page,
without these I'm feel like Im just previewing a blogging service.

~~~
cabalamat
I don't think it does history, which is a shame.

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edwinyzh
I like the simplicity of it.

I suggest you to provide hints for markdown markups, that'll let people who
don't know markdown get started quickly.

I blogged about it here: [http://liveditor.com/blog/new-simple-markdown-based-
wiki-sys...](http://liveditor.com/blog/new-simple-markdown-based-wiki-system-
with-live-preview/)

------
lists
I'm not sure if this is directed at tech-ish people or not, but maybe the word
markdown should link to the daring fireball page or some such, something
explaining what it is to people not in the know? Or maybe just saying you're a
dead simple wiki and leave the markdown emphasis out, like Dropbox with its
no-technical-verbiage thing.

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skmurphy
Consider sandbox pages where I can do some quick editing to try it out before
signing up. I don't care if the page does not last more than an hour. Please
be clear on your pricing, I could not find a pricing page.

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SoftwareMaven
When I invite somebody to collaborate, it would be _really_ nice to be able to
include my own message. I don't want to have to send somebody a message to let
them know that another message will be coming.

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DrWhax
Opensource it please!

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Rudism
I initially read the page title as "Simple scribble. Markdown Wikis" and had
to do a double take before I realized it's two separate columns.

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nathancahill
Very cool, but I need to be able to import/export. How do I know you will be
around tomorrow?

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evincarofautumn
As one of the last six users of the original Infogami, this makes me happy. :)

------
wissler
Please don't make me sign up in order to see how it works. Give me a link to a
representative "simple markdown wiki."

~~~
choxi
sorry about that, the reason I didn't is because it was simpler and not
because I'm trying to trick anyone into signing up

~~~
mhd
I think jottit's approach is quite interesting: Let anyone create a site/wiki,
but require a password to lock it.

~~~
choxi
+1, I'll try that

