
EpicEditor – An embeddable JavaScript Markdown editor - tambourine_man
http://epiceditor.com/
======
sdesol
"Because, WYSIWYGs suck"

I think this is a bit short sighted. I like Markdown and I'll eventually
integrate it into my product, but to discredit the usefulness of WYSIWYG would
be foolish. Maybe there is a lack of good implementations for it to show any
value. I'm currently evaluating redactor
([http://imperavi.com/redactor/](http://imperavi.com/redactor/)) as my WYSIWYG
editor and I've been happy with it so far.

For example this is how I render the html that is generated by redactor:

[http://screenshots.gitsense.com/wysiwyg-1.html](http://screenshots.gitsense.com/wysiwyg-1.html)

If you click the edit button on the bottom right hand corner, it'll bring up
the WYSIWYG editor:

[http://screenshots.gitsense.com/wysiwyg-2.html](http://screenshots.gitsense.com/wysiwyg-2.html)

And if I need to do a complex layout like the one in the screen shot, redactor
lets you edit in raw html, as shown below:

[http://screenshots.gitsense.com/wysiwyg-3.html](http://screenshots.gitsense.com/wysiwyg-3.html)

If you are working on a product and believe Markdown is the only way to go,
you'll probably do yourself and your customers a disservice.

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
wysiwyg is fundamentally flawed because the web is not wysiwyg. And HTML is a
semantic description of content, not its formatting. We fought long and hard
for that to be recognised, only for people to come along and try to derail
that effort with wysiwyg editors.

Case in point: the markup in your final link is terrible: tables for layout,
inline styles, DIVs containing nothing by BRs, etc. I could never sanction the
use of an editor that produces that kind of garbage.

Don't get me wrong, Markdown is not the solution either. For the novice, it
shares the same sort of cognitive barrier as HTML - confusing symbols that
take time and effort to understand, the whole notion of plaintext being
rendered as formatted text - without the huge benefit of flexibility - many
things just can't be done in Markdown.

I don't really know what the solution is, but - in my experience - reducing
the problem set from a general purpose editor to do 50% of what HTML does, to
context-specific 'wysiwyg-like' editors is a step in the right direction.

~~~
Doctor_Fegg
The only sane solution I've yet seen is WYMeditor[1]. All the ease and
immediacy of WYSIWYG, but producing proper standards-compliant code with the
classes you choose. The code's not brilliant (having Rangy mixed in to cope
with legacy IE annoys me), but the concept is so far ahead of anything else
that I now use it pretty much exclusively for in-browser editing; as a
professional writer I could never rewire my habits to the obtrusive markup of
Markdown.

[1]
[https://github.com/wymeditor/wymeditor](https://github.com/wymeditor/wymeditor)

~~~
sleepyhead
Too bad it looks kinda ugly. Example:
[http://wymeditor.github.io/wymeditor/dist/examples/01-basic....](http://wymeditor.github.io/wymeditor/dist/examples/01-basic.html)

~~~
sdesol
I think these things are quite easy to fix. I definitely prefer redactors
look, but being able to see each container is actually quite nice. You sort of
have use your imagination when it comes to layout spacing, but I think this
route is definitely better.

------
jamiebicknell
Whilst I do enjoy the idea that is a Markdown editor, I think one of the main
feature missing from this and most(?) is the ability to continue bullets and
code indentations. Shameless plug I know, but that is why I built and use the
following when editing Markdown in a textarea:

[https://github.com/jamiebicknell/Markdown-
Helper](https://github.com/jamiebicknell/Markdown-Helper)

------
Uehreka
I feel like a lot of Markdown editors get posted on HN. Some of them seem
pretty cool, but it gets hard to keep track of them all after a while. Has
anyone tried keeping a running list of these editors with their pros and cons?

~~~
rhythmvs
I maintain an inventory¹ of Markdown dialects, editors, parsers, stylesheets,
etc. — basically just some lists with links. They’re in YAML, though, so you
may want to add extra info (like a short description with pros/cons), and file
a pull request. I am considering to split the list of editors² into one for
native apps, and another for web-based implementations (such as EpicEditor).

[¹] [https://github.com/rhythmus/markdown-
resources](https://github.com/rhythmus/markdown-resources) [²]
[https://github.com/rhythmus/markdown-
resources/blob/master/m...](https://github.com/rhythmus/markdown-
resources/blob/master/markdown-apps.yml)

~~~
bowerbird
by the way, thanks for maintaining that fantastic resource!

-bowerbird

~~~
rhythmvs
Thanks!

By the way: I’m very curious about your “zen markup language” in the make. Got
some unfinished work in my drawers on “the best possible tool for writers”,
too. Some more research, wireframes, and a few drafts on an _extensible_
markdown-like lightweight markup language. E.g. this little discussion:
[https://twitter.com/rhythmvs/status/423123272809455616](https://twitter.com/rhythmvs/status/423123272809455616)

I sympathize with the idea of poet-turned-programmer. Maybe have a chat?

------
donatj
I looked at this a while back, it's big and bloated. Despite having no real UI
it requires jQuery UI... I don't understand.

~~~
y0ghur7_xxx
> Despite having no real UI it requires jQuery UI

Where?

    
    
        $ git clone https://github.com/OscarGodson/EpicEditor.git
        Cloning into 'EpicEditor'...
        remote: Reusing existing pack: 2951, done.
        remote: Total 2951 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
        Receiving objects: 100% (2951/2951), 1.53 MiB | 192.00 KiB/s, done.
        Resolving deltas: 100% (1392/1392), done.
        Checking connectivity... done.
        $ grep -ir jqueryui EpicEditor/|wc -l
        0
        $

------
ChristianBundy
Looks like the same one used in Telescope, the Meteor app:
[http://demo.telesc.pe/posts/a05eba73-cdd9-4d64-933d-2586ffc5...](http://demo.telesc.pe/posts/a05eba73-cdd9-4d64-933d-2586ffc58739)

~~~
sgdesign
It is :)

------
cben
I don't understand in what sense it's an MD _editor_. It's an MD previewer all
right. But no smart indentation (no Tab/Shift+Tab either). No syntax
highlight. I can't find a single feature which helps me actually editing
markdown.

P.S. Auto-saving in localStorage is a cool though.

------
hnriot
The text seems old, it mentions posterous and didn't that shut down a while
back?

------
dionyziz
Tab doesn't work.

------
thinkersilver
Just what I needed! Thanks.

------
markuman
Very lame! This is much better, splitscreen, full screen, markdown, html code,
or preview view. [http://markdown.pioul.fr/](http://markdown.pioul.fr/)

~~~
middleclick
You created an account just to say that?

