Show HN: Markdrop — drag and drop Markdown previews

http://www.markdrop.com/

by __init__py • 15 years ago

70 13 15 years ago

Very nice. I tend to go to web dingus and copy and paste my markdown in, so this is much handier.

Some comments:

* It doesn't seem to be working on Safari (v. 5.1, OS X Lion) for me. When I drop the file in, the blue bar stays properly, but the content area below that goes blank.

* The option to upload via a standard file input would be nice as well. I like that the primary usage is dropping, but sometimes I run my windows in full screen and it'd be nice to not have to exit out of that, open Finder, find the folder, and the drag.

* Maybe indicate that this is indeed the page on which you are supposed to drag. At first, I was unsure about that, but decided to go for it anyway. You could give a visual indication with a dotted box suggesting they drop there (but letting them drop anywhere, if they decide).

* Under instructions, I was left hanging. I get that you're showing that it's only two steps, but you showed a picture of it dropping onto the page and the instructions ended there. A "You're done!" with a small clipping of what the page with the rendered markup looks like might be nice.

rachelbaker• 15 years ago

Agreed, it took me a few page scans to realize that the "drop zone" is at the top of the webpage itself.

__init__py2• 15 years ago

Yeah, I need to clarify the instructions. If the files are dropped anywhere but the blue navigation bar, they should be converted.

__init__py2• 15 years ago

Thanks, man. I'll check on the Safari bug and agree about a standard file input. Will definitely take into account the need for clarity in instructions, too.

pyrmont• 15 years ago

Took me a bit to realise where to drag to as well but I thought it was pretty cool when it worked.

I was going to say it didn't parse ``` properly but then realised that's part of Github-flavoured Markdown. Nice work! :)

callahad• 15 years ago

It seems like a Quicklook generator for Markdown would be a more convenient solution in this case, since the workflow already involves going into the Finder and selecting the files... There has to be something out there for Github-flavored Markdown, right?

navs• 15 years ago

https://github.com/toland/qlmarkdown

reledi2• 15 years ago

How does this work? I tried drag and dropping my markdown file to the page and instead I got prompted to save the file locally.

Using Ubuntu & Chrome.

michaelschade2• 15 years ago

You are using it correctly, so must be missing some support. You might mention what version of Chrome (although, I assume that's the latest given their automatic updates) you are using and whether or not you are blocking JavaScript.

reledi2• 15 years ago

Silly me, sometimes I forget I have NotScripts enabled (the icon doesn't always show on the first page load).

Works now :)

rhizome31• 15 years ago

Same problem here with Chrome 15.0.874.83 beta & Ubuntu 11.04. With Opera 11.51, it just shows the Markdown source. With Konqueror 4.6.5 it opens the file in gedit. I suppose these are all different symptoms of the same issue which is that the drop event doesn't get handled as expected.

It works great with Firefox. Very interesting tool!

gbog• 15 years ago

Work all right with my Chrome 14 on Ubuntu 10.10, but doesn't work if you drop a second time without going back to home.

pkamb• 15 years ago

Your site is hard to use, because it doesn't look like a place where you should be dropping files/text. It looks like a normal website. Ditch the instructions, and instead make the site look like a "pad" where you can drag things. If it looks inviting to drag files into a zone on the site then people will understand that they can do it.

Show HN: Markdrop — drag and drop Markdown previews

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