macdown
macdown copied to clipboard
MacDownApp
Add file tree view like Sublime Text
MacDown opens one file per window, and doesn’t use tabs, so a tree view might not fit as well as in Sublime Text. Displaying directories just doesn’t really make sense here—see TextEdit, Pages, etc..
Something similar might be nice if (when?) we implement #135, but it still might not be what you’re thinking. I’m inclined to reject this proposal, to be honest.
I've never liked the idea of my text editor (for writing) having a file / tree view ... thing. I understand why people like it in code editors, but personally i think its worse than a waste of space in a text editor. Even MS word with it's 4,000 buttons and multiple menu bars never went there.
Word processing doesn't require constant file switching like code editing does. I've heard no good argument for such a feature in a word processing app, and while i feel dirty thinking about using a "Word Processor" that is exactly what MacDown, and all the other apps for writing prose/poetry/documentation are.
Agreed. The only case that justifies this (for me) is when your document itself contains a file structure, i.e. is a file bundle. For an example, open AppleScript Editor (inside /Applications/Utilities), save the file as a “script bundle”, and click the ”Bundle Contents“ button in the toolbar. This would be good for TextBundle format documents (see #135) because you can get path to assets more easily, either by drag-and-drop or inspecting the sidebar. So this might happen if that gets implemented.
I like this proposal. And it is what I expected. I always have a lot of markdown files in a project in a folder. This feature would make it more convenient.
Actually, tabs are not required. Just like Ulysses, switch files in a single window is also a good way.
I'd love to see either a file tree view, or a tabs based interface. When writing documentation, I try to separate it into several pages / markdown files. When I open another to edit, a new MacDown window opens with any size and position. This makes it a bit tedious to work with multiple files simultaneously.
Agree 100% with @nickcheng. I also have a lot of md files in a project, and it's much more difficult to work with them as it is now.
When you are writing a book, you have multiple chapters. If you do this in a single markdown file after a chapter or so the rendering panel is usually completely out-of-sync with the text. Even if all the file tree did was switch between windows that would be really useful. ...though I don't really understand the problem of keeping multiple buffers open (many text editors do it).
I wouldn't want it open all the time, but being able to toggle the tree would be excellent. (I love NERDTree in vim!)
Tabs are not the most important (hard to read tab titles if too many tabs, because of horizontal layout), but something like sublimetext's Side Bar would be perfect. Showing tree view would be a nice extra but the most important feature would be showing the set of opened files as a side bar on the left hand side, stacked vertically (exactly as sublime text)
Tree views without tabs would be very awkward. What should the app do when you open a document from the tree?
@orta built a pretty interesting solution on this issue a while ago. Haven’t heard much since then though. It would be brilliant if someone could work on this popup idea; I would definitely merge it if it’s done reasonably.
Tree view without tabs is like what NERDTree is doing. It is not awkward at all and is actually very helpful.
As @nickcheng had mentioned, Ulysses also uses a similar interface.
+1 for tree view / file list. Tabs are not necessary, it could work just like Ulysses, or Evernote. Maybe with an option to either auto save the file, or popup for confirmation.
I mostly use MacDown for documentation, and I have quite a few .md files in a project, going back and forth between them as I work.
Another request for this optional sidebar feature. For those editing many files, it would be invaluable.
I agree with @uranusjr that @orta 's idea of a quick find would solve the problem nicely. It addresses the switching between files that people want and it doesn't use up screen real estate.
@masukomi objects that this feature isn't useful to him, but his use cases aren't everyone's - he's a writer but I'm a developer. We likely use MacDown in very different ways.
I work with many small, nested files and switching between them is incredibly inconvenient. As a web developer I work with many different technologies and keeping them all straight is difficult, so I write cheat sheets to help me. Here's an example of the structure I'm using:
Notes
JavaScript
Node
index.md
install.md
configure.md
update.md
...
Yarn
index.md
install.md
configure.md
update.md
...
...
Ruby
index.md
install.md
...
Rails
index.md
install.md
...
ActiveRecord
...
...
...
As you can imagine from this example, because I rely on multiple folder levels and because many of my files share names, a tree view would be immensely useful and a quick find feature, while helpful, would be of limited use.
Nor do I see think screen real estate has to be an issue. The tree view should be opt-in, not showing up unless you specifically choose to open a folder. Further, you should be able to toggle the visibility of the tree view on and off even once a folder has been opened.
@debradley Just want to make sure I understand you correctly… Who do you mean by “him?” Orta most definitely is a developer, and I think I qualify as one as well. And I am most certainly not a writer.
"Him" in this case is @masukomi - which is why I tagged him in my comment. I was responding to his comments in this thread, including this one where he discussed his needs as a writer. To try to clarify, my point is that that there are multiple use cases for the app and tree view could be added in a way that lets those uses coexist peacefully. @masukomi seemed to be arguing that adding it would harm his use of the app.
@debradley You can try vscode with extensions. Markdown + Math is the one that I am using right now.
Honestly, I agree with @debradley. It could be added in such a way that a user who never previously needed or used it would notice. From a UX standpoint, a simple menu option to enable the view of it.
I'm not sure why I get a thumbs down from @carlowahlstedt. VSCode + extensions is a pretty good alternative. Apparently the author is not interested in implementing this feature to MacDown, since this issue is already open three years. If VSCode + extension does not fit your need, you can elaborate that. Maybe I can find another better alternatives.
That's funny @yjlintw I was just thinking that I should probably clarify and looking at the repo to see if I could try to implement this is some un-obtrusive way. However, my objective-c is rough and I'm not sure I'd be successful. That said, I agree is a pretty good alternative, but still not better than Macdown actually having this as feature. I keep VSCode open almost all day just to do this feature and then open more windows when doing various development tasks. It can make it annoying when having multiple windows open and wanting to just go to the markdown editor or the dev tools.
Agree 100% with @nickcheng. I also have a lot of md files in a project, and it's much more difficult to work with them as it is now.
This is exactly why Typora is so popular now
Honestly, I agree with @debradley. It could be added in such a way that a user who never previously needed or used it would notice. From a UX standpoint, a simple menu option to enable the view of it.
+1
I use MacDown mainly as a replacement for accessing notes on my computer (instead of Apple Notes, Bear,...). A optional tree like navigation structure would really benefit the UX and not hurt users who do not want it. I also don't need tabs. Just a tree navigation would be really beneficial.
Recently I discovered https://github.com/lukakerr/Pine/ which does exactly this and it feels really good from a UX perspective. However, currently it still is buggy and I really love the stability of MacDown a lot. So I would love to stick with MacDown :)
Agree 100% with @nickcheng. I also have a lot of md files in a project, and it's much more difficult to work with them as it is now.
This is exactly why Typora is so popular now
Thank you for the recommendation. I just downloaded macdown today and this is the first thing I noticed missing since I always have multiple files in my projects (e.g., website). So I just tried Typora and it does exactly what I wanted. It has tree view of the file structure and also an outline view. People may have different needs though. I've always been using Sublime and I really depend on the tree view, but sublime doesn't preview .md very well.
