← Back to context

Comment by esperent

2 days ago

There's loads of markdown viewers, you just don't identify them as that.

Try copying some markdown into these places:

- A reddit comment

- Microsoft Teams

- Slack

- Whatsapp

- Discord

- Google Docs

- Discord

- Notion

- Facebook Messenger (although only on desktop I think)

Etc.

Hahaha, I know, right? Someone might seriously float this argument.

Gee, here's a Markdown file on my computer that I'd like to read (formatted as intended). Since I don't have a lightweight reader for Markdown, let me just...

1. Open it up in a text editor

2. Launch a browser

3. Navigate to some page that allows Markdown comments.

4. Log in to comment.

5. Find something to comment on.

6. Create and paste into a comment.

7. Post the comment.

8. Read.

SO EASY!

Matrix, Discourse. I wish that Signal supported it though.

  • I love Signal, but this is one thing I wish it did better. It's much easier to write Markdown than long-press and format.

Most repo browser UIs, and apps like VSCode, too.

  • Again, the point is not to launch an EDITOR and then open up a "preview." The point is to double-click and start reading the document as formatted. You know... like we can do with even the maligned PDF.

    Think about the word "preview." If you're "previewing" the Markdown file, what are you previewing its appearance in?