Comment by mackenly
2 days ago
I really like Mermaid, but I'm not seeing the value in this as is.
- Mermaid within .md is widely supported. The file format of .mmd, while supported in most integrations, is a standalone file rather than living within my documentation/markdown. I use Mermaid charts and graphs as visual aids to add to the documentation or notes rather than having them stand alone. If I wanted a standalone file, I'd use any other diagram tool with its proprietary file format. I like Meriamid because of how easy it is to integrate into markdown. The value isn't in having a Mermaid file; the value is in adding diagrams and charts to markdown.
- Within .md files there's a Mermaid logo added beside the Mermaid, but it doesn't seem to be clickable or have a context menu. Maybe this is a bug. It also weirdly highlights all of the Mermaid code. Why doesn't it syntax highlight within markdown? This extension works great for highlighting: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items/?itemName=bpruitt...
- It doesn't add support for viewing mermaid within markdown preview. I currently use this extension for it. This is a key feature that is missing. https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items/?itemName=bierner...
Overall, excited to see what this becomes. Hope this is useful feedback! It can only get better from here.
It's worth pointing out that mermaidchart.com is NOT the official Mermaid project (https://mermaid.js.org/).
They're a for-profit company using the Mermaid name.
This creates a lot of confusion whenever the name comes up, which I suspect is deliberate.
Just to draw more attention to the point, it's not an unrelated project simply "using the Mermaid name," it's a for profit project started by the creator of mermaid.js, which charges for some advanced tooling around the opens source project. It's a common enough paradigm to see and in my opinion a pretty virtuous way to fund open source development.
See also Redis labs, Gitlab, ElasticSearch...
It's pretty instinctive to name stuff like this, especially when it's not a general purpose solution like you're not downloading this for any other reason except to build upon what Mermaid does.
They could have called it something entirely different, and then they can say (vscode plugin for mermaid.js) every time they mention their unique name that carries no association with it.
And Mermaid could have decided they want exclusive use of the name and trademarked it half a decade ago.
So it's just fair use, isn't it?
The problem is that a lot of people will google mermaid chart, or come across an extension like this, and find a site that looks like the official website and docs but isn't; it's a paid product with no relation that's simply profiting off of the name. That's deceptive, regardless of whether it's "fair use" or not.
Honestly, I'm surprised anyone on HN would defend that sort of behavior.
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Love mermaid. And for me mermaidchart.com was synonymous with mermaid markup. Thank you very much! I didn’t know the official website of the project is https://mermaid.js.org/ Just learned from you.
They even have almost identical logos...