New WordPress Plugin Offers a Markdown Editor Solution – WP Tavern

Earlier right this moment, a brand new editor plugin named Markup Markdown landed within the WordPress listing. It replaces each the traditional and block editors with a Markdown answer. It’s the first plugin by an creator merely generally known as Peter, or @peter202202.

As somebody who virtually at all times writes in Markdown, I didn’t assume twice about downloading, putting in, and activating it. I used to be pleasantly shocked to discover a respectable editor that I loved — after making a couple of adjustments, at the least.

The plugin will not be difficult to make use of. In case you are aware of writing in Markdown, it’s good to solely activate it. There are not any settings. Markup Markdown replaces the editor for all put up varieties with its personal.

The plugin depends on the Parsedown PHP library to deal with front-end output, turning the Markdown into HTML. On the backend, it makes use of the EasyMDE script for a JS-based editor.

Whereas I’m typically a fan of option-less plugins, this one might use a couple of. On the very least, customers ought to get to decide on which editor they like by way of their profile. On a multi-author web site just like the Tavern, not having this selection means the plugin is a non-starter. I might additionally like to decide on between editors for particular person posts. It doesn’t make sense for one already written in blocks to be edited in Markdown.

The largest subject I bumped into with the plugin’s editor was that the font measurement was far too small and the content material space too large for comfy writing. Due to this fact, I made a couple of CSS changes to make it extra to my liking.

With out these changes, I genuinely favored the plugin. Nevertheless, the older I get, the extra essential readable typography turns into. My eyes choose the change.

Sooner or later, I want to see the plugin creator at the least use the theme-defined content material width to set the writing space. With theme.json recordsdata turning into normal, I might pull typography-related kinds in too. It doesn’t have to do a lot — no have to attempt to go for a WYSIWYG expertise.

Another could be so as to add a couple of design choices for configuring the editor. A handful of settings would go a great distance in making a extra user-friendly expertise.

For essentially the most half, I loved tinkering with Markup Markdown. If this have been 5 years in the past, I might have already got it on all my websites. And, it’s probably a perfect answer for a lot of Markdown lovers right this moment.

I nonetheless choose the general interface of the fashionable post-editing display. I really feel like I’m touring by time each time I encounter the traditional model. It’s jarring sufficient that I doubt I might significantly use this plugin right this moment. I would favor a Markdown answer constructed on prime of the block system.

One draw back of the plugin is that it could not work alongside some block themes. Some rely solely on theme.json-generated kinds on the block stage to deal with their design. Which means that legitimate HTML output not generated by the block system could also be left unaccounted for.

For instance, the next <img> (picture) tag wrapped inside <p> (paragraph) blows out of the format when utilizing Twenty Twenty-Two:

There may be nothing incorrect with the HTML, and it’s the usual approach Markdown outputs pictures. This error is from the theme, not the plugin. The design will not be accounting for big pictures when not output by a block. That is one thing that just about all traditional themes deal with.

A theme that covers all its bases will present the next:

I really like block themes, however that is one thing to be careful for if utilizing one alongside this plugin. Most of these I examined didn’t deal with this state of affairs. This identical downside might have an effect on content material written within the traditional period or customized HTML.

Whereas as regards to pictures, the plugin sticks with pure Markdown output. It has a button for pulling up the media library, however there is no such thing as a solution to insert something however the full-sized picture. Alignment lessons are usually not obtainable both.

The latter downside might be solved if the plugin bundled Parsedown Extra, a Parsedown extension that helps Markdown Extra. The specification permits “particular attributes.” As somebody who routinely writes in Markdown, I virtually solely use this characteristic so as to add lessons to pictures.

Total, the plugin is a strong answer for these in search of a Markdown-based editor. With it being a 1.x launch, I sit up for seeing the place it goes sooner or later.