Markdown Preview & Thoughts as a New User

[thwaller]

I read a few prior posts on the depreciated forum on this topic, and I understand that the response is that Zettlr is a WYSIWTG software. However... I would like to comment on this....

I am a new user of Zettlr, only having started using it for approx 1 week now. I have used, and still use, numerous other softwares that are similar, MD editors. I disagree with the above statement. When I type in Zettlr, I see for example a "#" in front of my headers. That s not "what I get" in the final result, making it not a WYSIWYG editor. What I see is the "code" and not the actual result, which is what a WYSIWYG editor does.

I have been using markdown for a good amount of time now, and I have experienced issues with the many different flavors of it. This platform does this and this software does that... it is not all the same and not consistent... although usually close. It would be great to see a preview of what you have coded so you can see how it will generate without needing to do a temp export to see it. I understand one of the responses that a split screen is a waste of real estate, but simply offering a button to offer a preview would go a long way to resolving the issue.

My main editor is Joplin, since it uses a DB to store data. However, there are many times that I simply need an editor to create and edit plain old MD files. Typora and Ghostwriter have typically been my go-to softwares, Typora being a sore spot as it is not open source. Both a great, as is Zettlr, but I believe that all have their pros and cons. What I am looking for is sort of a LibreOffice Writer but using MD vs the standard DOCX/OTD. I believe MD is the new document format, with exception to maybe reports where you might want ODT or statistical docs where you might need RMD or LaTeX.

I believe that Zettlr is the closest software I have found to this goal. I believe that if the development takes more of an open mind this could be something big, and I would be happy to help it to get there and use it during the process. It sort of bothers me to read the responses to the preview requests though... it is never a bad thing to be able to see what the result of your code will look like. Using other softwares, IDEs, like VSCode, R-Studio and Atom... they all offer an option to preview what you have done. I really believe that such a feature along with other enhancements would make Zettlr the best MD editor to have.

[RoyiAvital]

I would also like to have side by side mode with RAW text on the left / right and rendered output on the right / left.

This WYSIWYG isn't efficient when writing technical documents with a lot of math.

[freepicheep]

I agree, @thwaller. In the mean time, you should check out MarkText. It is a FOSS that even supports live preview (similar to Typora) of markdown files. It's not as powerful as Zettlr, but it might satisfy some of your requirements for a markdown editor.

[thwaller]

@aCodingLegolas I have Mark Text installed and do use it, however, as you pointed out, it is somewhat lacking. I used to use Typora a LOT, but since their change in licensing shifting from proprietary but free to proprietary paid only, I left. They used all of us in open source to help them develop, now they want to charge without even fixing all of the reported issues... sad.

I am using Obsidian for most MD now. It is a bit bulky compared to a simple MD editor like Typora, Mark Text, etc and is somewhat similar to Zettlr in that it also acts as a MD organizer/browser of sorts in addition to an editor. It has a lot of great features and you can easily switch between reading, source and live views.

I also use Ghostwriter, Gedit (with MD plugin) and others depending on the needs at the time.

[nasteffe]

To be fair, I don't think Zettlr's goal is a fully WYSIWYG, but something closer to a lightly pre-rendered
version of Markdown's WYSIWYM model. But doesn't Zettlr's preview window provide some of what you're looking for? It doesn't update dynamically. I wonder, could it be changed to update whenever the file is saved?

[RoyiAvital]

@nathanlesage , Oh, I missed that.
Now, we only miss the option to have a rendered view side by side :-).

[nathanlesage]

There was the issue that people want to quickly switch between all preview rendering and no preview rendering, which is I think also in your interest, even if it's not side-by-side, is it? Because I really don't want a second column in the main editor and rather do it in-place (kind of as Notable had this a few months ago when I last checked)

[RoyiAvital]

@nathanlesage , It could be a creative solution.
I'd say that being able to render inplace with a keyboard shortcut is almost equivalent.

I think that if you add an option to only render what's seen on the screen would be even better than a side by side since for large documents it will have better performance as the preview is only partial.

By the way, it is great to have a portable version of this application by @PortableApps.

[nathanlesage]

I think that if you add an option to only render what's seen on the screen would be even better than a side by side since for large documents it will have better performance as the preview is only partial.

That is already happening: The app only renders what you see plus a few more lines in any case, which you will notice while very quickly scrolling through a long document.

[RoyiAvital]

@nathanlesage , That's great!
Where is the issue you mentioned?

I hope it will be implemented soon.

[thwaller]

I did not mean anything negative by my statements Everyone uses software differently and needs, wants and desires vary person to person. I have no issues with Zettlr at all, it is a good software and does a great job.

The preview windows is a nice option, but does not do what at least I am looking for. The preview is also not the only reason for my change, but one of them. No software will ever be 100% what a user wants, even if that user is the developer, so I never have unreasonable expectations with software, and always appreciate the work people do in regard to FOSS. I am and will be for sure interested in developments of Zettlr, so I hope all is taken properly.

[dj-sf]

just throwing in my 2 cents - I just discovered Zettlr and love the idea of it. The only thing preventing me from using it instead of Obsidian is the lack of a "live preview" feature like what Obsidian has. I know that not all users prefer this but it would be great to have it as an option.

My reason is that I like to use Obsidian for brainstorming pretty often and having all the extra markdown formatting characters on display at all times is a bit jarring and distracts from the ideas that I am trying to get out of my head and into writing.

Basically, if Optional Live Preview was implemented, I would switch from Obsidian to Zettlr immediately and probably never look back. If others feel similarly feel free to chime in.

[nathanlesage]

Try to activate all renderers in 3.0's display settings; I have finally budged in and implemented an almost live preview thing, very close actually to what Typora does. Maybe it's closer to what you're envisioning.

[ymich9963]

Commenting so that this feature gets added! It would be extremely helpful to have this.

[pastukhvladyslav]

Check all these settings (Hide heading characters and Render emphasis included)