Markdown Editors

The online Markdown editor Dillinger is open source and can be used without first needing to create an account. The website is divided into two parts. On the left, you write your Markdown text. You will then see the output on the right side as a formatted document where all the markup elements have been im­ple­men­ted. You also have the option of dis­play­ing the cor­res­pond­ing HTML source code.

You can export your work in HTML, PDF or Markdown format and save it on your computer. It is also possible to send your text via Dropbox, GitHub, Medium, Google Drive and One Drive. You can also import documents from these locations or choose to upload a Markdown or HTML document. Ad­di­tion­al features include character and word counters as well as an autosave function which is made possible through the use of cookies.

The online Markdown editor Draft is a bit more soph­ist­ic­ated. To use this ap­plic­a­tion, users will need to register first. You will then be able to work on documents using version control and as a team. Draft is primarily designed for pro­fes­sion­al users who want to work on larger projects in col­lab­or­a­tion with others. Any changes made by other col­lab­or­at­ors do not overwrite your master copy but are instead tracked as changes. In addition, there is an option for comments and dis­cus­sion threads.

You can also link your Draft account to other ap­plic­a­tions such as WordPress, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Evernote, Twitter and Basecamp to name a few. In addition, you can select certain format­ting from the menu to make your work even easier if you are not sure which markup elements you need. Another feature which should appeal to pro­fes­sion­al users is Draft’s large arsenal of analytics options relating to pro­ductiv­ity.

Like Dillinger, StackEdit can be used without creating an account. Its layout is also similar to Dillinger’s. The screen is divided into two areas, one for the text and the other to show the display. The first no­tice­able dif­fer­ence is in the header. This is where you will find buttons for format­ting, similar to a WYSIWYG-style editor. Of course, these buttons are optional. Ex­per­i­enced Markdown users can still continue to use markup elements.

In addition, StackEdit dif­fer­en­ti­ates itself by allowing users to work with the file explorer, so you can work on multiple documents once. This editor is also com­pat­ible with a variety of platforms such as Google, WordPress and GitHub which enables you to transfer your files to various locations and import them from there. Some features are only available when you are signed in with your Google Account. In addition to Markdown, StackEdit can also handle math­em­at­ic­al ex­pres­sions (via LaTeX), UML diagrams, emojis and musical scores.

Typora is a Markdown editor for Windows, Linux and Mac. This software has a simple design and does not include a preview area. Instead, the Markdown format­ting is im­me­di­ately displayed in the text. In order to simplify writing text in Markdown, Typora offers an auto complete function similar to other code editors. For example, if you open a bracket, it will auto­mat­ic­ally add a closing bracket.

To ensure that each in­di­vidu­al user’s ex­per­i­ence with the program is as pleasant as possible, Typora offers a variety of themes to customise the editor’s ap­pear­ance. Typora provides two modes which are designed to improve the user’s con­cen­tra­tion: focus mode and type­writer mode. In focus mode, only the current line you are on is clearly visible while all the others are blurred. In type­writer mode, your current active line will always remain in the middle of the window. This prevents you from losing sight of what you are working on.

Write­Mon­key is a very popular Markdown editor for Windows. This program is all about using stream­lined Markdown syntax and thus offers its users a less gimmicky ex­per­i­ence. Write­Mon­key has an extremely stripped-down graphical user interface and does not provide its users with guidance, but it does ensure that its users are not dis­trac­ted from what is important (i.e. the actual text). This is why the program is in full-screen mode by default. It also does not have a preview function. Write­Mon­key therefore primarily targets Markdown experts: everything is written using markup elements, there are no buttons to help with the design, and you can only see the result once you export the file.

One useful feature is its progress bar function. Write­Mon­key does not just count words and char­ac­ters. It also allows you to define goals. You can specify a certain number of words or set a time limit, and the software will tell you how much you have already done. You can extend the program with language packs and dic­tion­ar­ies to work better in your own local language or add typing sounds. The various sounds available should help you feel as com­fort­able as possible when writing. Ad­di­tion­al ex­ten­sions are available if you make a donation to the software’s de­velopers. In the future, this software will also be available for Mac and Linux.

Quiver is a paid Markdown editor and is only for Mac. Quiver is designed for pro­gram­mers who need to write doc­u­ment­a­tion regularly. What makes this editor so exciting is that you can work directly with different markup languages. It lets you easily mix plain text, Markdown and LaTeX (in math mode) within one document. Quiver also includes a code editor with support for over 120 pro­gram­ming languages. A live preview window renders text formatted with Markdown as you type. In addition, the Markdown editor provides clear document nav­ig­a­tion and a full-text search function so that you can even keep track of large projects. You can also assign tags to better organise your notes.

Quiver allows you to col­lab­or­ate on a project with members of your team. It saves all your data in plain JSON files so you can access the in­form­a­tion via other programs as well. If so desired, everything can be synced with Dropbox, iCloud and Google Drive. You can customise the program to meet your layout pref­er­ences using different themes. In addition, the developer has made an app for iOS. This app can only be used to view files. You cannot use it to edit them.

Laverna is a Markdown editor for Linux, Mac and Windows, but you can also use this open source project online in a browser. If you have your own server, you can even find a version on the ap­plic­a­tion's website which allows you to host Laverna yourself. No matter what version you decide on, all versions of this Markdown editor are available free of charge and without creating an account. Laverna’s layout is similar to most other Markdown editors. You write in an area on the left side and this is rendered as a live preview on the right side (but you can also turn off the preview). There are also a few buttons to make format­ting the note you are working on easier.

You can manage documents by assigning tags to them. Par­tic­u­larly important notes can be saved to your “fa­vour­ites” for quick access. To increase your pro­ductiv­ity, Laverna offers a dis­trac­tion-free mode and key binding. Through key binding, you can assign tasks you perform regularly to keyboard shortcuts. One of the special features Laverna provides is en­cryp­tion. You can secure all your data with a password. You can even change the level of en­cryp­tion in the settings. You can use an interface to connect Laverna to your Dropbox account and sync your files to different devices. Un­for­tu­nately, documents cannot be converted directly into HTML. Instead everything is in JSON format.