While we're on the topic of MD, what's the best system for Markdown-based static blogs these days? With good code highlighting, images, colors, etc.
MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
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Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#42While we're on the topic of MD, what's the best system for Markdown-based static blogs these days? With good code highlighting, images, colors, etc.
I know you asked for MD based system, but if you are willing to look beyond MD, I'd encourage to look into Antora[0] that's based on AsciiDoc. It's a full fledged documentation system that can span from single article to multiple books or product or technical documentation.
Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#43While we're on the topic of MD, what's the best system for Markdown-based static blogs these days? With good code highlighting, images, colors, etc.
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Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#44I am happily experimenting with Typst right now ( https://typst.app/ ), which compiles much faster than LaTeX and with a syntax very similar to md, together with nice support for math, figures and advanced settings.
Typst, with MathJax for math would be ideal! But I don't want to have to learn yet another syntax for math when LaTeX's math mode is burned into my brain.
This is the main difficulty for me in learning Typst. I think LaTeX is unnecessarily verbose for simple documents. But I know its "equation part", the part within $$, well, and I don't want to have to relearn it.
Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#45While we're on the topic of MD, what's the best system for Markdown-based static blogs these days? With good code highlighting, images, colors, etc.
I use Zola ( https://github.com/getzola/zola ) - pretty fast and I was able to customize a few things as well.
One great thing about Zola for static sites is that it's just a binary. Hugo shares that trait, but a lot of the others are built in Python or JavaScript and therefore come with gnarly dependency trees and package management problems that have given me headaches when trying to update a site after a few years of inactivity.
With Zola you just download the same version of the binary you used last time (or even commit said binary to the repo alongside the files) and you're on your way.
It fits in well with the general static site ethos of minimalism and constancy.
Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#46I am happily experimenting with Typst right now ( https://typst.app/ ), which compiles much faster than LaTeX and with a syntax very similar to md, together with nice support for math, figures and advanced settings.
Typst is great, but really doesn't really serve the primary use case of mdbook which is building documentation websites or digital knowledge gardens that are accessible as a website.
If you are typesetting a research paper or writing a technical book for print publication typst is a great solution, but for a lot folks not having web support is an absolute dealbreaker.
Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#47I am happily experimenting with Typst right now ( https://typst.app/ ), which compiles much faster than LaTeX and with a syntax very similar to md, together with nice support for math, figures and advanced settings.
Typst is great, but really doesn't really serve the primary use case of mdbook which is building documentation websites or digital knowledge gardens that are accessible as a website. If you are typesetting a research paper or writing a technical book for print publication typst is a great solution, but for a lot folks not having web support is an absolute dealbreaker.
Apparently HTML output support is coming for typst. I'm very keen, since to be honest markdown just isn't powerful enough to support a lot of the typesetting I want to do. For example, using markdown you can't put text in boxes, reuse styles, link references to diagrams or sections, number headings, do math, and so on.
All of this stuff is crazy useful in typesetting. I love markdown, but its missing too many features.
Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#48While we're on the topic of MD, what's the best system for Markdown-based static blogs these days? With good code highlighting, images, colors, etc.
Opinions—Hugo or Jekyll for blogs. Yes, that Jekyll! Hugo gives you more rope to shoot yourself in the foot with. MkDocs or Docusaurus for documentation. MdBook is not in the running, IMO, unless it’s radically improved since the last time I checked. And here’s my hot take—most generators have a lot of the same design flaws. Routing is generally a mistake—you should instead design a system where every page has a URL…
Regarding MkDocs there's the great Material for MkDocs [0] for documentation.
Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#49While we're on the topic of MD, what's the best system for Markdown-based static blogs these days? With good code highlighting, images, colors, etc.
I've been using Pelican [1] to generate my blog [2]. Here's how I set everything up: [3].
[3] https://gurudas.dev/blog/2023/06/07/how-i-generate-gurudas-d...
Re: MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
#50If you want to create books, Asciidoctor (for PDF/ebook) + Antora (to publish them on the web), are the way to go. Not related, just a happy user who used Asciidoc for the last 20 years to maintain product docs.
Why? because Asciidoc/tor gives you a lot more:
- a syntax with callouts, tables, indexes, comments, notes and everything you may need in a book
- macro expansion
- a ton of complex diagrams via PlantUML (veeery useful!) that you can keep inline
- a ton of output formats, including "real" paper books via Docbook.