As for consuming documentation, I find Read the Docs[1] way easier to navigate. It feels like GitBook tries to strip away all sense of navigation and makes it way too "minimalistic" or "slim".
Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
31–39 of 39 posts
Re: Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
#32I'm working on a new book lately, and I've been trying to settle on the right workflow. I've been posting the chapters as blog entries, as I complete them, but editing in WordPress leaves a lot to be desired, and I don't really think HTML is the right authoritative source for a book. I wrote my first book, and a lot of old documentation in SGML DocBook, and then later converted it to XML DocBook...it had many benefit…
Are you familiar with Ghost, the open-source Markdown-based blogging platform? It might suit what you're looking for. Also, I haven't written any books, but I wonder if Markdown is the best choice for a canonical format. The syntax is lightweight but also limited. For example, it doesn't support tables, and doesn't differentiate between source code (which should be syntax highlighted) and literal text (which shouldn'…
Yes, we support Ghost in Virtualmin. I like it a lot, but I like the huge ecosystem of WordPress (and my higher level of familiarity with it) better.
It is a technical book, but no math. There is table support in some extended versions of Markdown, so that's not a problem. And, I've found syntax highlighting works OK on our website (which is Drupal with a geshi filter setup for Markdown text format posts...it is a little clumsy in that it has to be wrapped in tags, but it works well enough that I'd be comfortable using it).
I just started googling WordPress plugins for Markdown. Maybe that'll do the job well enough, and I'll do my editing in vim or Atom.
Re: Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
#33Oh hey, I designed the current gitbook layout :D This is nifty news!
Re: Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
#34As for consuming documentation, I find Read the Docs[1] way easier to navigate. It feels like GitBook tries to strip away all sense of navigation and makes it way too "minimalistic" or "slim". [1] https://readthedocs.org
I actually like read the docs a lot, as far as the tips and notification boxes go, the code boxes are really nice, but not a huge fan of the sidebar
Re: Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've got a question for you since you mentioned that you use it to take class notes. I have attempted this in the past and I have found it pretty hard to keep up with a professor while they talk and write things down. When it is just straight speech I am taking notes of there is no problem of course since it is just normal text. But when math starts being quickly written on a board I find it hard to keep up. Writing…
I guess my reply wasn't worded so well. I don't really mean in-class notes. In class, I do the same thing you do - I write everything down on paper. In the past I have tried to type everything and ran into the same problem you stated. What I currently do is move most of my written notes into class independent documents on Overleaf. It then become easy to create study guides for exams since all of my notes can be prin…
Are you able to save your notes out of Overleaf in the free version? It looks like a nice service but I don't want to pay to have offline access to notes especially since I like to have a nice git repo with all my old notes backed up.
Re: Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess my reply wasn't worded so well. I don't really mean in-class notes. In class, I do the same thing you do - I write everything down on paper. In the past I have tried to type everything and ran into the same problem you stated. What I currently do is move most of my written notes into class independent documents on Overleaf. It then become easy to create study guides for exams since all of my notes can be prin…
Are you able to save your notes out of Overleaf in the free version? It looks like a nice service but I don't want to pay to have offline access to notes especially since I like to have a nice git repo with all my old notes backed up.
Yes, you can use the git sync for this :) https://www.overleaf.com/blog/195
Re: Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you able to save your notes out of Overleaf in the free version? It looks like a nice service but I don't want to pay to have offline access to notes especially since I like to have a nice git repo with all my old notes backed up.
Yes, you can use the git sync for this :) https://www.overleaf.com/blog/195
Is that available to free users?
Re: Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
#38This is perhaps a general question about 3rd-party auth, but how am I supposed to trust an app like this when I click "log in with google/github/etc"? I'm simply shown a new pane within the same application that could easily be a phishing attack. There's no way to verify who the hell I'm sending my user/pass to. Is there some way for native apps to launch my preferred default browser to do this task? (Note: this is b…
If you are already logged in with google/github/etc you shouldn't need to re-enter your password, just give approval. The authentication and association would be handled in the background. If you have to enter a password when you are already logged in then it is a huge red flag and you should probably run. EDIT: Done correctly, "Log in with ..." should NEVER need your password for the site it will use separate authen…
Nice tip, thanks. But in this case it's wrapped in a destop app runtime distinct from my browser (Electron?), so there is no way to be already logged into Github/Google.
In an ideal world auth flows would always open in my system browser that I can trust. On both mobile and desktop.
(Well, technically I already installed a proprietary .deb and am running the process as my user, so game over.)
Re: Show HN: GitBook Editor Beta – Markdown WYSIWYG, TeX
#39I'm working on a new book lately, and I've been trying to settle on the right workflow. I've been posting the chapters as blog entries, as I complete them, but editing in WordPress leaves a lot to be desired, and I don't really think HTML is the right authoritative source for a book. I wrote my first book, and a lot of old documentation in SGML DocBook, and then later converted it to XML DocBook...it had many benefit…
I don't think this editor requires subscription?
You can skip login ("not now" or something like that at the bottom), and work with local git repos; I suspect you can also use coax it to work with private remote repos (Book -> Repository Settings... ?) without logging in, but haven't tried.
You won't get GitBook's online services but their build toolchain is fully open, can be run locally.
Aside from being proprietary, this seems a neat local markdown editor with built-in git support. I too would prefer something FOSS and more flexible, esp. for a huge project like a book, but I can see myself recommending this to people.