ThinkLab editor and markdown suggestions

I thought we could use this thread for discussion related to ThinkLab Flavored Markdown (TLFM) and the ThinkLab post editor. I have a few suggestions:

1. The markdown help page should provide a tutorial of all markdown features. It's fine if the TLFM-specific features are detailed first, but I've always found it annoying to track down markdown syntax through nested help docs.
2. I have noticed an omitted space following some inline urls. See this example.
3. In the preview mode, it is easy to inadvertently navigate away from the unsaved post when clicking a link. Perhaps all links in the preview window should set target="_blank".
4. More broadly, perhaps all links to outside resources should open in new tabs/windows. Currently, I believe only inline urls trigger a new window.

Just FYI — you already created a thread that was intended to be for markdown related discussion. But in all honesty I don't think there is a particular reason to try and keep everything in the same thread. We're still working on the previous issues you posted BTW.

The markdown help page should provide a tutorial of all markdown features. It's fine if the TLFM-specific features are detailed first, but I've always found it annoying to track down markdown syntax through nested help docs.

Makes sense. We'll try to just put all of this on one page.

BTW, I'm a little bit hesitant to endorse the term "ThinkLab flavored markdown". I think this term implies we are changing something from other flavors. The intent is to only be adding things (where necessary).

I have noticed an omitted space following some inline urls. See this example.

Yes, I noticed this too. It's been flagged to fix, thanks.

In the preview mode, it is easy to inadvertently navigate away from the unsaved post when clicking a link. Perhaps all links in the preview window should set target="_blank".

Are you clicking the links on purpose to test if they're working or just inadvertently clicking the links? We could also just disable the links in preview.

More broadly, perhaps all links to outside resources should open in new tabs/windows. Currently, I believe only inline urls trigger a new window.

I'm generally against this. It should be up to the user to decide if they want to open something in a new tab or not. I think you'd find it irritating to have links opened in new windows when you didn't want that to happen.

Just FYI — you already created a thread that was intended to be for markdown related discussion

Yes, I looked through the abbreviated discussion list on the meta project page and didn't see the old thread. Consider adding a footer row that shows the number of non-displayed discussions — just to make it clear that the table is not exhaustive.

It should be up to the user to decide if they want to open something in a new tab or not.

You have convinced me, except for the specific case of the preview window where data loss is a concern.

Are you clicking the links on purpose to test if they're working or just inadvertently clicking the links? We could also just disable the links in preview.

I was with @apankov when he composed his first post and this situation arose. I personally like to make sure my links resolve from the preview window.

Yes, I looked through the abbreviated discussion list on the meta project page and didn't see the old thread. Consider adding a footer row that shows the number of non-displayed discussions — just to make it clear that the table is not exhaustive.

Yes, I actually ran into the same problem :) Will do something about it.

I was with @apankov when he composed his first post and this situation arose. I personally like to make sure my links resolve from the preview window.

Okay, we will see if we can get them to open in a new tab.

Just ran into a potential issue yesterday as I wrongly copy-pasted my whole console output into the editor and saved.
There was no warnings, no errors and the whole thing ended up in a very long message. Should we have a limit?

I am concerned by:
- usability: in this very small use-case, I would have loved a warning box!
- security/reliability: it seems brittle to accept any size of comment from the engineering side.

PS: I tried with messages with up to 8K lines. Still works :-)

This was a test message with 8041 lines which made the thread unreadable and the website slow for a while.

Have we discussed the fact that there is no way to delete a message?

Markdown tables tip

I have found tablesgenerator.com extremely helpful for generating markdown tables to input into thinklab posts. You can paste in tab delimited text and automatically generate the markdown format.

The markdown help page should provide a tutorial of all markdown features. It's fine if the TLFM-specific features are detailed first, but I've always found it annoying to track down markdown syntax through nested help docs.

I think the most useful thing (at least for me) would be to have a small javascript popup with a "cheat sheet" with summary information about the 80% of MD features that everybody uses. Not a guide (that could be linked to in the popup) but a set of short reminders.

Something like this (and this obviously doesn't fully work because of markdown interpretation!):

# Header 1
## Header 2
### Header 3

*emphasized*
**bold**
~~StrikeThrough~~

[link text](http://linkaddress.com)

>You are quoting me right now,
and you still are.

Citations:
[@10.1002]
[@10.1002 @10.1002/aris.202 @10.1002/aris.203]
[@citation_key]: 10.1002/aris.201
[@citation_key]: http://www.optional-url.com "Citation text in quotes"

`\``
function codeBlock() {print "yes!"}
`\``
Some `inline code` might be the answer.

...
**Full mark down ressource**