Richard MacManusMar 8, 2024

1/2 Speaking of writing articles, this from Paul Scanlon (one of the folks I edit at @TheNewStack) is a good conversation starter: "why a CMS over a file based markdown solution for long form content?"

Paul and I have been emailing back and forth about this. I use #Markdown for my Eleventy site and am fine with it; I usually enter my posts into the Bear app and then copy the MD file over to VS Code to finalize the images, etc. But *most* content people need and want a WYSIWYG #CMS.

Show threadRichard MacManus
2/2 Now, I do agree with Paul that WordPress has gotten really bad at this in recent years, with Gutenberg being a terrible UI for WYSIWYG writing and editing. CMSs have had their issues going way back to the early 2000s, when I managed them for corps for a living. So perhaps it's a CMS industry problem that people want a Markdown-based editor instead. In Paul's thread, commenters mention TinaCMS, NetlifyCMS and more as good MD options. Thoughts anyone?
Mar 8, 2024 at 10:52amPhanpy
Show threadJamesMar 8, 2024

@ricmac I agree that using Markdown is a better way to go than most popular CMS's out there. I prefer the autonomy and freedom of using Markdown and a Static Site Generator than a CMS.

That said, I think using Markdown and softwares like VSCode can be intimidating for non-tech people. So to me it comes down to who is writing, editing and/or publishing the content.

Show threadBill SeitzMar 8, 2024
@jameko @ricmac there are lots of other editors that are even more markdown-specific. Is there a reason to use vscode for this?
Show threadRichard MacManusMar 8, 2024
@billseitz @jameko Bill, no it's just that I am used to VS Code for that purpose. And it's connected to my GitHub. But do you have any specific tools you recommend I check out?
Show threadBill SeitzMar 8, 2024
@ricmac @jameko I do my markdown in either browser textarea or BBedit. ;)
But many use iaWriter, Ulysses, Obsidian, Byword...
Show threadRichard MacManusMar 8, 2024
@billseitz @jameko yes, I use Bear app to work on my articles, then transfer to VS Code to do images and other tweaks (so I can see how it looks in localhost). So it's similar to the Obsidian et al use cases, I imagine.