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Cover image for I created an online markdown viewer and editor 📝
Liyas Thomas
Liyas Thomas

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at Medium

I created an online markdown viewer and editor 📝

Marcdown 👻

Lightweight markdown viewer and editor

For one of my blog post, I was searching for an online markdown viewer and editor. There were many heavy-duty editors, with tones of useless features, but none seems to be easy and fast with all essential features.

That's why I created an online markdown viewer and editor tool: Marcdown to create, edit, view, and save markdown files on the go with ease. Marcdown is WYSIWYG!

WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. In computing, a WYSIWYG editor is a system in which content can be edited in a form closely resembling its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed document, web page, or slide presentation.

Dark mode

Forget all the hassle of working with complicated editors. Learn how to create, edit, view, and save markdown files within minutes!

Marcdown is an open-source markdown viewer and editor optimized for change and adaptability to fit your exact needs.

Light mode

With Marcdown, now I can view and edit markdown files in all sizes for free; I can view, edit, create markdown files and download them from anywhere.

Viewing and editing markdown files is now as simple as 1, 2, 3!

  1. Paste or type markdown on left.

  2. View preview on right.

  3. Download markdown file.

Bonus: 🌗 I also added an option switch to dark mode so that reading markdown files at night won't hurt your eyes!

Demo 🚀

Feel free to contribute on GitHub


If you want a heads up on my next projects, or just want to chat about the web, life and happiness make sure to follow me @liyasthomas on Twitter 💙. If any of my projects helped you please consider making a donation.

yep

EDIT 0: Added highlightjs support: Inline codes and code blocks will now be highlighted automatically.
EDIT 1: Added separator line between editor and preview 🎉 Marcdown is a PWA. It works offline after first use. You can install it as a Web app on your phone or Desktop app on your PC. Click on the top-right PWA button to install as an offline app. Share your suggestions below & I'll implement them.

Top comments (30)

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alienkevin profile image
Kevin Li

Hey, just a suggestion. I haven't use the editor yet but based on the demo images, I think you can try combine the editor and preview into one. That will make UX much more enjoyable and the UI cleaner and more efficient. Check out typora to see what I mean.

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Liyas Thomas

Yea, I got the idea. It would be cool. I'm on it 👌

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programom profile image
Abdulaziz • Edited

it's july 2020 and I do not see this feature implemented. I would love to see it soon. It will be a big advantage, especially I do not think there is any markdown web app has it yet. Great work!

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liyasthomas profile image
Liyas Thomas

The current markdown parser library I use is incapable of unified editor+viewer. That's why I'd to keep it as it is.

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arjvik profile image
Arjun Vikram

Beautiful! I love it!

Please add MathJax support! This would be great for people who need to include math equations in markdown.

I also fully support Kevin Li's suggestion to combine editor and preview. Check out Typora (typora.io) for an example of how this is done. I'm basically looking for an open source version of Typora at this point.

Again, looks great!

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Liyas Thomas

✨ Added MathJax support for LaTeX, MathML, and AsciiMath notations. Hooray..! 🎉

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Liyas Thomas

Both features are on the way 🔥 Follow project on GitHub for updates

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protium

I whish dev.to uses this for the posts editor. It's so clean and nice. I would add a line to visualy separate markdown from preview.

Have you considered making a lib of this allowing devs to choose colors and buttons to show?

Awesome work

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Liyas Thomas • Edited

I too had the idea of separator line, I'm on it. Consider it's done.
More theming and customizations are on the way 🎉

Meanwhile, I made Marcdown as a progressive web app. It works offline after first use. You can install it as a Web app on your phone or Desktop app on your PC. Click on the top-right PWA button to install as an offline app.

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darioromero profile image
Dario Romero

Great tool, but how do you insert equations? Like $\alpha2$

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Liyas Thomas

✨ Added MathJax support for LaTeX, MathML, and AsciiMath notations. Hooray..! 🎉

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Liyas Thomas • Edited

Support for LaTeX equations & mathematical formulas is in development. Wait for it 👽

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elanandkumar profile image
Anand Kumar

Super cool.
In my opinion, if the editor can be split vertically on mobile device would be good. Just my random thought.

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liyasthomas profile image
Liyas Thomas

Wow. That's cool bro 👍 Will be added in next commit.

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elanandkumar profile image
Anand Kumar

Thanks.

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Liyas Thomas • Edited

Thanks for the support 🧡

What's new on Marcdown?

✨ Added MathJax support for LaTeX, MathML, and AsciiMath notations. Hooray..! 🎉

GitHub Link

Feel free to contribute on GitHub

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r4h33m profile image
Raheem

You beat me to it. Its been on my side-project bucket list for a while, because discord was a hassle. It's probably for the best though, it looks great and much better than what I would have made!

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Liyas Thomas

💚 Glad you liked it. Check out my other projects on GitHub.

By the way, you should proceed with your bucket list. I'll definitely check it out. There's always something to learn from everyone :)

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Sarthak Sharma

Damn Clean !! ❤️

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Liyas Thomas

Glad you liked it. Check out my other projects on GitHub.

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Leo.png

It's awesome !

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Liyas Thomas

Glad you liked it. Check out my other projects on GitHub.

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Daniel Ramirez Mendoza

It's awesome!!!, one question, Can I use different themes?, I want to use that dracula theme you use on first demo image.

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Liyas Thomas

More theming and customizations are on the way ✨

Dark mode seen in the demo can be activated from Dark mode toggle icon 🌙 on the top-right of the screen.