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Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

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Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#261

Post by DidYaWipe »

dismalaf wrote: post #184
DidYaWipe wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And read-me files are for, , READING. Not writing. I have no need to EDIT any Markdown files... pretty much ever. Nor do I need to clutter my IDE with tabs devoted to reference material, much less an extra pane to "preview" it in its intended rendering. Your pretension that most programming involves writing Markdown "source code" is absurd. I neither want nor need Markdown in any of my source-code editors, ever. Not…

Someone writes the README... And WYSIWYG? Who uses those? And how often are you even reading READMEs? For me it's usually once, when I first use a library, because it typically gives an outline of the project and/or instructions on how to install it. So I'm reading it in a browser. Meanwhile I'm updating my own READMEs often, usually using them as a sort of to-do list and then outlining existing functionality. Like,…

"reading READMEs is such a common task that you specifically want it in your IDE"

Are you being intentionally obtuse? I said that's exactly what I DON'T want.

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#262

Post by DidYaWipe »

al_borland wrote: post #192
DidYaWipe wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, but when I check something out, I'm working with it on my computer. I don't want to go back to Github every time I want to read something.

Many modern editors, including VS Code, have a button which opens a preview pane to see rendered Markdown. It’s a single button click (the page with the magnifying glass on it in the upper right), no one is installing pandoc to read readme files. The preview is really only needed if there is advanced formatting or HTML in there. A basic markdown doc should be easy to read in plain text.

Thus my point. If everyone's answer is "just read the plain text," then why have the junk in it at all?

And I don't want an extra "preview" pane. That was the specific complaint. Nor do I want these docs in my IDE at all. I want all the available space in my IDE for code.

Again, why have this format all over the place when there are vanishingly few VIEWERS for it? Or vice versa?

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#263

Post by int_19h »

Kwpolska wrote: post #166
rk06 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish they stopped adding feature to notepad. Or if they really wanted to, create a new app note.exe and add features to it instead.

The new Notepad is a separate app. The classic Notepad with zero features can still be accessed with some hackery.

Settings -> Apps -> Advanced app settings -> App execution aliases

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#264

Post by DidYaWipe »

mistercheph wrote: post #188
DidYaWipe wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, but when I check something out, I'm working with it on my computer. I don't want to go back to Github every time I want to read something.

the nicest thing about markdown is that it’s entirely legible in plaintext mode, I don’t need it to be rendered, unlike other markup languages

But since there are vanishingly few readers that render the markup, why have it at all?

Or, from the other angle, with Markdown being found in so many places, why aren't there popular viewers for it?

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#265

Post by DidYaWipe »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #213
DidYaWipe wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, but most of those are examples of exactly what I'm talking about: an editor with a Markdown "preview" function tacked on. I just want to double-click on the .md file and read it in a rendered form. Otherwise... what's the point? And because of the lack of such readers, everyone just reads the plain text with a bunch of garbage in it. It's just gallingly dumb.

The first 3 are exactly what you're saying. The 4th and 5th have dual panes with live updates of fully rendered markdown on the side.

I'm not familiar with the first two, but did try MarkText. I don't remember why, but I ended up paying for Marked. Thanks for the references; I'll check those others out.

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#266

Post by int_19h »

eviks wrote: post #217
ninkendo wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said I was 99% sure it used to work that way. But yes, you’re right about editable text being the difference: my memory of long pressing to highlight/select is exactly how text selection works for noneditable text, like in regular web sites in safari. That’s the big inconsistency, and why I’m always frustrated by iOS text editing. Long pressing normal text highlights it, but long pressing editable text does not. So…

hm, here is the original iphone user guide for ios 3.1 > When you’re typing, you canalso double-tap to select a word. In read-only documents, such as webpages, or email or text messages you’ve received, touch and hold to select a word. Also, double tapping selects by words in editable notes vs by letter in read-only, so the OS will continue to fight you feeble attempts at trying to have a consistent experience!

I also remember the same thing as GP, and I believe I got it from the very first iPad.

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#267

Post by DidYaWipe »

saagarjha wrote: post #207
DidYaWipe wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you need to round-trip it through a Web site? Wow, convenient.

Why are you surprised that the easiest way to view a markup format for generating HTML is on the web?

I was going to call out that out as a strawman, knowing that it doesn't meet the classic definition. Let me look up what's it's called when you bury a not-agreed-with assertion in a question that requires the recipient to agree with it...

Ah, so that's the definition of a "loaded question." Thanks for the fallacy!

"Loaded Question: A loaded question contains an assumption that may or may not be true or agreed upon. It's designed to trap the respondent into confirming a premise they might not agree with, regardless of their answer.

Complex Question Fallacy (or plurium interrogationum): This is a logical fallacy where the question presumes the truth of something that may be false or unproven. Answering it directly implies agreement with that presupposition."

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#268

Post by DidYaWipe »

al_borland wrote: post #194
DidYaWipe wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just playing dumb. It's only "plain text" in that it's non-binary. It contains formatting codes that aren't part of the informative content. If everyone's just using a plain-text reader to view these files, then why clutter them up with formatting codes?

Those formatting codes are informative content. They tell the reader (even in plain text) that something is a section heading, bullet, code, etc. This is information people often want in a plain text file, and having a common way to signal those things is beneficial when working on teams or sharing with others. What’s the alternative? Everyone makes up their own bespoke way of formatting their text file that works fo…

If I'm in a text environment that doesn't display styled text, I use capitalization, indentation, and spacing.

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#269

Post by DidYaWipe »

jonp888 wrote: post #203
DidYaWipe wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that they aren't shown as bullets, headers, or bold unless your viewer understands the Markdown codes that invoke those decorations. Which is what I'm decrying the lack of. My "alternative" is to have DEDICATED, lightweight Markdown viewers. The major OSes have long come with a simple text-file viewer that can render RTF. Why not Markdown? In the meantime, I'm mystified as to why the format is so rampant when…

The whole point of Markdown is that the formatting codes intutitively make sense and are readable even without a viewer and without needing to read a specification first. People have been using asterisks as bullet points and to emphasise things long before anyone came up with Markdown. Maybe it doesn't to you, but it does to most people. An update to Microsoft Notepad which renders Markdown is currently being rolled…

Well, that's nice about Notepad.

I'm not sure I agree *something* is intuitive for italic and **something else** is intuitive for bold, or that this is intuitively a block quote:

> #### The quarterly results look great!

>

> - Revenue was off the chart.

> - Profits were higher than ever.

> > Everything is going according to *plan*.

Re: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Markdown Support in iOS 26

#270

Post by dismalaf »

DidYaWipe wrote: post #261
dismalaf wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone writes the README... And WYSIWYG? Who uses those? And how often are you even reading READMEs? For me it's usually once, when I first use a library, because it typically gives an outline of the project and/or instructions on how to install it. So I'm reading it in a browser. Meanwhile I'm updating my own READMEs often, usually using them as a sort of to-do list and then outlining existing functionality. Like,…

"reading READMEs is such a common task that you specifically want it in your IDE" Are you being intentionally obtuse? I said that's exactly what I DON'T want.

So hide it from your project structure? It's an easy thing to do... I really don't get your issue, you're right.

.gitignore or .ignore file...

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