Markdown (a lightweight markup language)
19 December 2009 11:51 Filed in: Programming
My first web sites I designed, way back, were all done using a text editor to code each page in HTML. Over time tools became available that made the task easier. These days the two dominate Open Source tools for web site and blog design are Wordpress and Drupal. However, as good as they are I find them an overkill for this web site since I don’t want a database to store the pages so that I can use MobileMe for hosting.
I have been using Sandvox, RapidWeaver and iWeb on-and-off since 2006 and finally decided to stick with RapidWeaver. It is not perfect, but of the three it is the best that meets almost all of my requirements for this blog.
The biggest shortcoming of RW is that for blog entries “Styled Text” is the only page option. This is fine for most of my entries, but there are entries where I use lists. Using the build in list option is buggy, sometimes the lists are as they should but many times the first bullet entry is misaligned. Trying to use nested lists creates even more misalignment. To overcome this problem I used the “html code” option to code the lists directly in html.
Another issue is that of creating “block quotes”, to do so one must use the html code option, which is OK as long as there are no other styling option to be used, such as a list within the block.
The good news however is that there is a RW plugin that adds a ‘Markup Language’ menu item for ‘Markdown’.
The Markdown language for lists is totally intuitive. Just make the list as deep as required using tabs and placing a - or a + or an * in front of each item. Highlight and select ‘Markdown” from the menu and Markdown will generate the correct html.
Lightweight markup languages are perfect for writing web pages, where you want mostly freeform text, and when formatted text controls get in your way. With the addition of Markdown the shortcomings of RapidWeaver have been eliminated, allowing me to create my blog entries the way I want.
You don’t have to be a RW user to benefit from Markdown, there are a number of Markdown add-ons for a number of web tools, just do a quick goggle check to find them. To learn more about Markdown visit Wikipedia for examples, etc.
I have been using Sandvox, RapidWeaver and iWeb on-and-off since 2006 and finally decided to stick with RapidWeaver. It is not perfect, but of the three it is the best that meets almost all of my requirements for this blog.
The biggest shortcoming of RW is that for blog entries “Styled Text” is the only page option. This is fine for most of my entries, but there are entries where I use lists. Using the build in list option is buggy, sometimes the lists are as they should but many times the first bullet entry is misaligned. Trying to use nested lists creates even more misalignment. To overcome this problem I used the “html code” option to code the lists directly in html.
Another issue is that of creating “block quotes”, to do so one must use the html code option, which is OK as long as there are no other styling option to be used, such as a list within the block.
The good news however is that there is a RW plugin that adds a ‘Markup Language’ menu item for ‘Markdown’.
The Markdown language for lists is totally intuitive. Just make the list as deep as required using tabs and placing a - or a + or an * in front of each item. Highlight and select ‘Markdown” from the menu and Markdown will generate the correct html.
Lightweight markup languages are perfect for writing web pages, where you want mostly freeform text, and when formatted text controls get in your way. With the addition of Markdown the shortcomings of RapidWeaver have been eliminated, allowing me to create my blog entries the way I want.
You don’t have to be a RW user to benefit from Markdown, there are a number of Markdown add-ons for a number of web tools, just do a quick goggle check to find them. To learn more about Markdown visit Wikipedia for examples, etc.
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