
MacDown: Open-source Markdown editor for OS X - shortformblog
http://macdown.uranusjr.com/
======
rodion_89
Kinda surprised by the rise in markdown editors whose selling point is the
live preview mode. I always felt that the best feature of markdown was that
the raw text made it somewhat obvious how it should be rendered. If a preview
mode is need I almost want to jump straight to a WYSIWYG editor

~~~
schuke
I think there are two kinds of users of Markdown. One is those who don't need
or want WYSIWYG. The other still want WYSIWYG but don't want to shift+arrowing
around or constantly leaving the keyboard to reach for the mouse. The number
of Markdown editors with live preview probably says that the latter group is
actually not small.

~~~
cabalamat
I find Markdown best for writing in but looking at the processed output best
for proofreading.

~~~
filmgirlcw
This. I've been making my living as a writer for ~7 years and have used
Markdown as my dominant syntax for about 6.5 of those years. When I proofread,
especially a long post, a preview is great.

Of course, for that, I usually just use Marked, but I'm never opposed to
seeing more Markdown tools. Ever.

------
ehPReth
According to [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-
CN&tl=en&...](https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-
CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fitem.taobao.com%2Fitem.htm%3Fid%3D39011463240&sandbox=1)
and a quick Wolfram Alpha hit Mou's asking price is ~US$80,220

~~~
Nemcue
That's interesting; and way too much for such a rudimentary app -- which
probably shouldn't even be a native mac app in the first place.

I wonder how he came up with that price.

~~~
owenversteeg
It says in the translated description:

* first in Google for "markdown mac"

* domain name, logo, branding

* source code

* good reputation/press reviews

I don't think it's worth what he's asking (500,000 RMB, which is ~80,000 USD.)

------
kemayo
I'm conceptually a fan, but then I noticed its effect on my actual CPU fan.
Whatever this is doing for rendering the Markdown is not cheap -- a single
keystroke in the editor pane on the sample document triggers 5+ seconds of
max-CPU usage.

Typing causing loud fan noises from my laptop is not the most restful
experience.

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/qy6szsbjs7cw3uv/Screenshot%202014-...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/qy6szsbjs7cw3uv/Screenshot%202014-06-25%2020.17.17.png)

~~~
adamnemecek
I've had the same experience with like all Markdown editors that have a
preview function. It does indeed suck.

~~~
copperx
That's shameful. It's not like they're running LaTeX behind the scenes. I
think it boils down to the implementation of the Markdown engine.

------
stock_toaster
I think I prefer Marked. It lets me bring my own editor (vim), and simply aut-
updates when it detects the file has changed.

~~~
pwenzel
I use Marked and Sublime Text. Like peas and carrots.

------
jmromer
Mou's live preview was neat for about a week, but eventually I just switched
to Sublime Text with the MarkdownEditing, Markdown Preview, and Markdown TOC
packages. Powerful stuff, and as-good-as-live preview in your browser.

[https://sublime.wbond.net/packages/MarkdownEditing](https://sublime.wbond.net/packages/MarkdownEditing)
[https://github.com/revolunet/sublimetext-markdown-
preview](https://github.com/revolunet/sublimetext-markdown-preview)
[http://dotcypress.github.io/GitHubMarkdownPreview/](http://dotcypress.github.io/GitHubMarkdownPreview/)

------
beltex
Nice work!

What about Atom's markdown preview though? I found myself switching over to
that from Mou.

[https://github.com/atom/markdown-preview](https://github.com/atom/markdown-
preview)

~~~
jasonlaster11
same!

------
webwielder
I approve of the old school MacName.

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muaddirac
This is awesome because I like Mou but it had some pretty big pain points:

\- Large files caused it to slow unbearably/crash

\- Scroll tracking was terrible (TexWorks is the only similar thing I've seen
that does it well).

It looks like these aren't necessarily fixed in MacDown 0.1, but at least
there's the opportunity to improve it with time.

------
jevyjevjevs
Two solutions that people might also appreciate checking out: LightPaper
Marked

------
samuelhalle
Awesome! Just miss a file navigation pane and I can say bye bye to Lightpaper!

------
filmgirlcw
My only real issue with these is that there isn't an easy way to do a RegEX to
remove certain types of formatting when copying the HTML. In an ideal world,
I'd prefer to _not_ have <p> tags, for instance, because most of the time, the
place I'm pasting the content inserts them at any line break automatically. I
realize this isn't always the case but it's one of those "frustrating" aspects
that makes me continue to use an old-as-hell TextMate bundle a friend
customized for me 5 years ago.

------
flxfxp
Awesome! Could use a better icon though :)

Any plans to implement the same shortcuts as Mou?

~~~
shortformblog
I actually asked the author about this, and at the very least, he plans to add
the H1-H6 key commands that made me a fan of Mou:

[https://twitter.com/uranusjr/status/481901582104006657](https://twitter.com/uranusjr/status/481901582104006657)

I'm impressed with the early results of this. Considering that Mou hasn't been
updated in months, I'm glad to see a successor in active development.

I've tried a lot of Markdown editors, and Mou was the only one in my
experience that got the keyboard commands down pat.

~~~
bobbles
PS: On the homepage "This is how it looks like:" can be just "This is how it
looks:"

~~~
shortformblog
Not my app.

------
rubiquity
Does anybody have any experience with this and LightPaper[0]? I'm curious if I
should switch. There's so many markdown editors out there. How can I know that
I'm using the best one for me? (joking) Markdown editors feel like it should
be the example for the paradox of choice.

0 - [http://clockworkengine.com/lightpaper-
mac/](http://clockworkengine.com/lightpaper-mac/)

------
santa_boy
There are lots of open source editors coming of late.

[Haroopad]([http://pad.haroopress.com/](http://pad.haroopress.com/)) is my
favourite markdown editor of late. It is based on node-webkit and is also open
source.

The main points I wish it could include is word completions similar to sublime
and spelling corrections.

------
cabalamat
One problem with Markdown is that every Markdown app uses a different version
of it.

------
Malarkey73
I like Dillinger which is online. It has preview pane and links/saves with
your Dropbox/Github/GoogleDrive or a local folder.

[http://dillinger.io](http://dillinger.io)

~~~
iamtew
Dillinger is indeed nice, but I would like a native desktop program with the
same functionality, as I'm not always connected to the internet.

Of course, I could just run it locally on my laptop, but for some reason I
still prefer my web browser for web browsing, and native programs for other
stuff.

Or if I could get the same functionality in Sublime Text 3 that'd be even
better, but I don't know how to build a plugin to do that, or haven't found
one that does.

~~~
lloeki
Try Atom[0], start a new file or open a markdown file and toggle the preview
pane.

I liked the feature so much that I made svg-preview: write SVG code on the
left, live preview on the right.

[0]: [https://github.com/atom/markdown-
preview](https://github.com/atom/markdown-preview)

[1]: [https://github.com/atom/svg-preview](https://github.com/atom/svg-
preview)

~~~
felipesabino
your svg-preview url return 404, isn't it [https://github.com/lloeki/svg-
preview](https://github.com/lloeki/svg-preview) ?

~~~
lloeki
indeed, thanks. sorry for the stupid s/markdown/svg/

------
arikrak
How do these mac markdown editors compare to in-browser editors like
[https://stackedit.io/](https://stackedit.io/) ?

------
talles
Another Markdown editor for OS X!

Anyone besides me ever noticed how there are many options for markdown editors
for Macs, but really few (decent) ones for Windows or Linux?

~~~
filmgirlcw
Well, historically I think it was because Markdown was created by a Mac user.
And most of the early Markdown hackers were Mac users.

Obv. Markdown is now much broader, but I still think the market of people who
actively care about a Markdown-based editor for desktop or mobile are more
likely to be using a Mac and iOS than Windows/Linux/Android.

If you think about it, however, that's a huge market opportunity for Markdown
devs on those platforms.

------
tempodox
This might be useful, but I'd prefer it if there was a way to turn the live
preview off. I don't need a new preview with every letter I type.

------
zyxley
I like this, but I'm still waiting for something that has this kind of live
preview but also has a folder/file project sidebar like Ulysses 3.

~~~
NSCFType
LightPaper (free, not open source) has a project sidebar:
[http://cl.ly/WGSv](http://cl.ly/WGSv)

[http://clockworkengine.com/lightpaper-
mac/](http://clockworkengine.com/lightpaper-mac/)

~~~
daturkel
First I'm ever seeing this. This looks awesome, thank you. I also love Texts:
[http://texts.io/](http://texts.io/)

------
jason_slack
This is great. I like IA Writer but it lacks some features for me. I tried
Atom and it is good too. This app feels like a one stop shop for me.

------
Luyt
MacDown requires OSX 10.8 or later.

~~~
coldtea
Which one should be running anyway, seeing that 10.9 is the current version
for a year, and we're on to 10.10 soon.

OS X releases are like minor Linux distro updates -- not in they have limited
changes, but in that you don't want to fall far behind the latest version.

It's a different approach than Windows, where people can still run XP with no
problem -- not that you couldn't run 10.4 or 10.3 (and some people do), but
the Mac world changes and software is updated to reflect that (takes advantage
of new APIs, integration, changes in style etc).

In Windows there is software available in new versions in 2014, even MS made,
that still uses stuff like file open dialogs from 1998.

