38
votes
Minor text formatting updates
I've just updated the site's markdown processor a bit to allow a few more HTML tags through, and added a section to the Text Formatting docs page to explain these options. The short form is that the following formatting is available only by using HTML (some of these may be added with markdown syntax eventually):
strikethrough-<del>tagstrikereplace -<del>and<ins>tags- superscript -
<sup>tag - subscript -
<sub>tag - Tables - using
<table>,<tr>,<th>, and<td>
I think at this point we should probably have almost all of the wanted formatting available, but there may still be a few missing.
Good stuff, these are a great addition. But, one question:
Why HTML for tables, as opposed to something like how Reddit uses pipes ( | )? I don't really use other sites that utilize table formatting, so I don't know what other options there are.
Is there a technical reason, is it arbitrary, is it a preference thing, etc
It's possible to support the markdown syntax as well, and I probably will eventually. That's not a core part of markdown, so it's an "extension" that I'll have to enable.
That pipe syntax gets really ugly really quickly though, so I think one benefit of allowing HTML is that you can use all the existing "HTML table generator" type of tools that make it quite easy, and then just copy-paste the output into your post.
Many spreadsheet programs and web apps natively support exporting to HTML too, but not usually markdown.
The pipe syntax is Markdown. As is the [ ] ( ) link syntax. I actually really like how Tildes uses a lot more "raw" type formatting. http://commonmark.org/help/
No it’s not. It’s not in the CommonMark reference you posted and it certainly isn’t in the original Perl implementation either.
Hidden messages should be a good reason for those responsible or liable for the content on the site.
If you noticed the text, it isn't hidden anymore.
You can always hide messages using empty links and title attributes.
Can you see mine in this comment?
Edit: this is so well hidden that it is not even rendered, it only appears when I click edit. https://i.imgur.com/hlOUIeK.png
It isn't hiding anything as it is not merely not rendered but discarded.
That's more like it!
It's not completely discarded, it is saved in the database, but nobody will see it because it is not rendered (as in converted from markdown to html and sent to the browser).
Your reply made no sense in regards to the argument here, so I emphasized it is also not part of the html source. The concrete processing path is irrelevant here, unless it points out how the text is noticeable or visible to the naked eye.
Welp, it looks like I misunderstood the argument. It can sometimes happen. I'm also two days late to reply, I rarely use internet during the weekends.
Any plans/interest/antipathy towards adding spoiler code of some sort? It could be very useful in, e.g., ~books...
Yep, although there is no specific timeline on when or even how it will be implemented yet.
Durr, never even thought to check the issues.
It's a pandoc extension, but I'm inordinately fond of footnotes (endnotes):
Also another vote for tables. I've been known to use them. Pipe syntax is relatively sane. (Though who am I to judge?)
Do you plan to implement a more feature-rich markdown parser? It makes little sense to rely solely on commonmark as it is now. And users shouldn't need to rely on external tools for formatting.
I don't have any plans. What features do you think are missing, and what's more capable than CommonMark?
Tables should be done in markdown. It's already a lot for normal people, not to mention html tags or external tools. Support for spoilers, math markup, task lists, footnotes, citations is missing in CommonMark. ( Btw, you should enable #fragments--which should be available--so people can write indexes)
Everything you've listed at the top should also be available in markdown as well. It's the entire point of markdown to make the written source more readable. Markdown is also used on many sites. While there are slight differences, the system is overall the same so it is easy to adapt.
Most of those are extremely niche features that will almost never be used. I'm also already using GitHub Flavored Markdown, which has extensions (that aren't currently enabled) for tables, strikethrough, and task lists: https://github.github.com/gfm/
Is there some other form of markdown or other formatting language that supports all of the things you listed?
Well, niche is relative. Most of the time, it's a matter of awareness.
This is a forum that pays attention to text; so if you make a short reference quickly noticeable and accessible, and a long one easy to understand, people will use it.
Markdig is the one that covers it all, but it's a C# implementation.
What about <PRE>? Pretty please?! :)
Any reason
are insufficient? (or am I misremembering what the pre tag does?)
Laziness and wanting to avoid learning a new markup, I guess. :)
Just kidding! Triple backticks will do fine! Thanks!
Also useful! Thanks!
Great! Should have tried it before asking! :)