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TechnicJelle/Markdown File Editors Comparison.md

Last active August 12, 2025 14:48
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A comparison of some Markdown File Editors (not Project editors)
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Markdown File Editors Comparison.md

For FILES not PROJECTS, so editors like Obsidian/Joplin/Logseq/Zettlr/VScode do not count.

These are all my own opinions.

Gnome Apostrophe

  • Slow startup
    • Would honestly be nice enough if it weren't so slow to start up
  • Complains about "Insecure files"
  • Cannot change the size of the panels (click&drag ←→ the middle left&right)
  • Cannot change the maximum line length (for both edit and preview)
  • 👍I like the synchronised scroll
  • No font customisation
  • Does not support all the markdown features I want
    • BlueMap Readme
      • 👍 Does support <div align="center">
      • [![BlueMap Graph](https://metrics.bluecolored.de/bluemap/graph.php?1)](https://metrics.bluecolored.de/) is just a blank image
    • BlueMap GUI Readme
      • Notes ( > [!NOTE] ). Does not even show as a quote. Just as normal text.
      • <img align="left" width="100px" src="assets/icon_1024.png" alt="logo"> has fine enough layout, but the image itself does not load Pasted image 20250716051912
    • GXP Tech Comparison Readme
      • Does not support Table of Contents. When clicked, opens browser to some random thing..?
      • Does not show the images that are relatively linked ![Screenshot of the Modern project](./.github/readme_assets/demo.png)

KDE Ghostwriter

  • Slow startup
  • Can't move the document outline to the right
  • Can't disable the sidebar to the left of the outline without also disabling the outline
  • Makes all h1 full caps
  • No synchronised scroll
  • Cannot toggle word-wrap with hotkey
  • Does not support all the markdown features I want
    • BlueMap Readme
      • 👍 Does support <div align="center">
      • 👍 Does support [![BlueMap Graph](https://metrics.bluecolored.de/bluemap/graph.php?1)](https://metrics.bluecolored.de/)
    • BlueMapGUI Readme
      • Notes ( > [!NOTE] ). Does at least show as a quote.
      • <img align="left" width="100px" src="assets/icon_1024.png" alt="logo"> shows the image, but is a bit cramped regarding layout Pasted image 20250716051939
    • GXP Tech Comparison Readme
      • No code highlighting
      • Kind of supports <picture> with the colour scheme stuff. Only does dark mode, though. Possibly uses system theme instead of program's own theme? So when system is dark mode and program is light mode, it is not good.
      • The <picture> inside an <a> also shows the picture, and no broken <a> around it, but (Ctrl+)clicking on it does nothing. Normal links do work, though.

Typora

  • Slow startup (but not too bad)
  • Can't move the document outline to the right
  • Does not support all the markdown features I want
    • BlueMap Readme
      • <div align="center"> Does not center, and the closing <div> is visible. Also some <br>s are visible.
      • 👍 Does support [![BlueMap Graph](https://metrics.bluecolored.de/bluemap/graph.php?1)](https://metrics.bluecolored.de/)
    • BlueMapGUI Readme
      • 👍 Does support > [!NOTE]
      • <img align="left" width="100px" src="assets/icon_1024.png" alt="logo"> loads the image, but does not put the other stuff next to it Pasted image 20250716051854
    • GXP Tech Comparison
      • 👍 Does support Table of Contents
      • Does not support back button on side of my mouse to go back, though
      • Does not hide HTML comments
      • Supports <picture>, but not the colour scheme stuff
      • <picture> inside an <a> does show the picture, but the link around it breaks

IntelliJ IDEA - LightEdit Mode

  • MUCH too slow to start up. A solid 10 seconds. That's already almost as long as the full IDE takes...

Notepad++

  • Does not support Linux natively.
  • Using it through Wine is possible, but Wine takes too long to start.
  • The markdown plugin is janky in ways I don't remember. Perhaps it is better now. I hope so.

Remarkable

  • Preview just entirely invisible: image
    • The cursor does swap sprites when hovering over parts of the blank screen, which leads me to believe there is something there... I can even click&drag from there, and then stuff appears Peek2025-07-1606-33-ezgif com-video-to-gif-converter
  • Does start up kind of quick though. About a second. I could live with that, even though I really do think it should be possible for a markdown editor to start up faster than this.

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