Let's open an issue and discuss it there.
I never used diagrams and that library, but if I see a couple of other implementations, maybe it can be a drop-in...
The JS side is made in StimulusJS. You can take it, it's MIT.
I haven't worked with python and don't have plans to port it to React or anything else.
If you do start work on it, I can guide you though the process if you need a hand...
Hmmm... My responsible developer gut tells me to redo it in React so you don't import StimulusJS just to render one editor.
It's like having jQuery as a dependency in a React project.
It's common enough that a bigger percentage of normal people than you'd think probably find themselves using it on sites at least occasionally (Reddit, etc.), even if they don't consciously think of it as Markdown or know all the particulars of the syntax.
The GitHub-style editors are nice in that when a user sees the syntax directly when they press a formatting button in the markdown-toolbar-element, it makes associating a hash symbol with a headline or two asterisks surrounding a word with bold text pretty straightforward. In that sense, they teach you through using it since the syntax is fairly simple for the basics for someone seeing it the first time. Use it a couple of times, and you'll skip touching the buttons--at least for the basics.
That said, I think a Writebook-style editor[0] mentioned elsewhere may have some advantages for people with less computer experience, but I don't think a straight GitHub-style one like this is bad in those circumstances. It's quite good, especially if you pair it with some instructions (whether they be in a modal or whatever have you).
I've had good success teaching markdown to a fair few non-techie people. At the end of the day it better serves as a machine-readable middleground between a user-facing WYSIWYG (markdown-powered) editor and the server responding to it.
It’s hard to know how popular dark vs light is among people who work in tech, but in my anecdotal data the majority of people/coworkers I’ve seen use GitHub have it in light mode.
This looks great! I'd also love a non-Markdown view for less technical folks. Or can you write in the "preview mode"?
I read that 37signals will also spin-off the markdown editor they built for Writebook (https://once.com/writebook), so nice to have different options.
I'd use the Rhino Editor for that. It's based on TipTap and is very extendable. I used it in a few projects and loved it.
Thanks, I'll have a look!
The Ruby world is feeling a revival for the last year. More and more people using it and lots of new libraries coming out or being updated.
Yup. I agree. It's going to be hard to make a dent in the JS world, but it's coming back!
Ruby needs a type system comparable to TypeScript to compete.
avo is just great! we have used it in 3 projects by now and couldn’t be happier with the product and community!
nice to see that they are starting to push the whole ecosystem.
Thank you for your kind words. A rising tide lifts all boats!
So awesome to see this on the first page. Thanks everyone!
Huh. It would be cool to get Harper integrated into this
https://writewithharper.com
Nice work Adrian.
Out of interest are there any plans to support embedding Mermaid diagrams in the same way as Github supports?
Let's open an issue and discuss it there. I never used diagrams and that library, but if I see a couple of other implementations, maybe it can be a drop-in...
This is exactly what I needed, but I need JS or Python backend. Any chance to make it work?
The JS side is made in StimulusJS. You can take it, it's MIT. I haven't worked with python and don't have plans to port it to React or anything else. If you do start work on it, I can guide you though the process if you need a hand...
If I was to build out a react integration, would you recommend:
A. Rebuild the stimulus portions in react B. Write a react wrapper around the stimulus
I use rails for everything I do, but like to use vite_rails on the front end for react. Excited to use this library!
Hmmm... My responsible developer gut tells me to redo it in React so you don't import StimulusJS just to render one editor. It's like having jQuery as a dependency in a React project.
Another question:
Does this integrate with action_text? Wasn’t that a big thing in rails 6/7, with like… trix?
In theory it does. The thing with ActionText is that it adds some HTML to the content, but in theory it should work.
Do normal people use Markdown? Or is it a dev/“techie” thing?
It's common enough that a bigger percentage of normal people than you'd think probably find themselves using it on sites at least occasionally (Reddit, etc.), even if they don't consciously think of it as Markdown or know all the particulars of the syntax.
The GitHub-style editors are nice in that when a user sees the syntax directly when they press a formatting button in the markdown-toolbar-element, it makes associating a hash symbol with a headline or two asterisks surrounding a word with bold text pretty straightforward. In that sense, they teach you through using it since the syntax is fairly simple for the basics for someone seeing it the first time. Use it a couple of times, and you'll skip touching the buttons--at least for the basics.
That said, I think a Writebook-style editor[0] mentioned elsewhere may have some advantages for people with less computer experience, but I don't think a straight GitHub-style one like this is bad in those circumstances. It's quite good, especially if you pair it with some instructions (whether they be in a modal or whatever have you).
0. https://once.com/writebook
I've had good success teaching markdown to a fair few non-techie people. At the end of the day it better serves as a machine-readable middleground between a user-facing WYSIWYG (markdown-powered) editor and the server responding to it.
Thank you so much for this.
DHH has said that Markdown editing will be a feature in 8.1. Also, Marksmith requires the use of ViewComponent, which is non-standard.
look good ~
We are in 2025, can we please start using dark mode as the default on websites?
Why do you assume everyone prefers dark mode? :)
It’s hard to know how popular dark vs light is among people who work in tech, but in my anecdotal data the majority of people/coworkers I’ve seen use GitHub have it in light mode.
There may be an argument to default to “system”.
Any stats on how many people use dark mode in the OS vs light mode? My sense was that dark mode was less popular.
I'm pretty sure dark mode is less popular.
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