Ability to customize html template / output

csquire 2012-06-11 10:04:25 UTC #1

MarkdownPad is a great tool. Thanks for building it. I would like the ability to customize the output of the tool. In particular, I need to be able to tell Markdown pad to only generate the html associated with the markdown text I typed in rather than including the html headers, css, etc. In general though, it'd be nice to be able to completely customize the html template.

evanw 2012-06-11 10:13:11 UTC #2

Thanks for taking the time to submit this feedback. I am currently developing a custom HTML template feature for an upcoming new version of MarkdownPad. I don't have the feature finished yet, but I was thinking about allowing "tags" to specify standard code sections (like %HEAD%, etc), and the whole thing would be customizable.

In the meantime, a potential workaround would be to select the text you'd like to use, right click, and select Copy HTML (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+C). This will copy only the Markdown text's HTML and won't include any stylesheets or additional HTML structure.

neologix 2012-06-29 12:23:22 UTC #3

Would this "customizable HTML" option allow for choice of doctype, either thru an explicit option or thru editing the template somehow?

evanw 2012-06-29 13:05:55 UTC #4

Yes. My goal is to have the entirety of the HTML document be fully customizable via the template system, including the doctype.

evanw 2013-07-26 08:50:18 UTC #5

This feature was prototyped for MarkdownPad 2's initial release, but after working with many users I learned that their main goal wasn't to modify the entire HTML template; instead, most actually wanted to simply insert content into the <head> section of the document.

To make this possible, I added a "Custom HTML Head Content" editor under Tools → Options → Advanced tab → HTML Head Editor button.

Since adding the <head> editor, I have not received any additional requests for a feature of this nature. It's still on my list, but has a lower priority than it originally had.

Are you seeking a full HTML template editor? If so, can you explain the use case? It helps me get a better understanding of the requirements.

geocine 2013-07-26 11:28:16 UTC #6

If MarkdownPad2 has a templating system like razor/smartys or anything. It would be easy for me to generate a static site.

csquire 2013-07-26 11:35:24 UTC #7

Evan, thanks for following up with this. I was unable to convince our faculty to try / use Markdown (despite it working very well for our use case) so I no longer need this feature.

geocine 2013-07-26 03:36:36 UTC #8

Hi @evanw may I know the status of this feature? It has been a year.

kellypleahy 2014-04-01 18:50:22 UTC #9

Evan,

Could the custom head content get stored with the markdown somewhere? The problem I have is I use markdown for a ton of different files and I want to be able to give titles, etc. to those files that are different for different .md files. It would be very convenient if there were a "companion file" (like .net's .config files - say document.md.config) that had this information so I could also check that file into my repo.

Kelly

jamesbrecknell 2015-11-08 04:19:45 UTC #10

I've only just discovered Markdown Pad, and after exploring it, I feel this feature is the main thing I would like to see added - the ability to customise the HTML template used to create the HTML output. Either that or the ability to use a browse function to select any HTML template from the user's computer to insert just the body section at a specified point in the HTML. Markdown Pad perhaps could identify the insertion point by telling users to put a certain string of characters in the HTML template. An expanded approach would be to allow users to customise multiple character strings that could be selected for each instance of code output to identify various different insertion points in an HTML template. This would allow Markdown Pad to be used as a CMS for HTML templates with multiple content areas. Another awesome feature would be an escaping system that allows use of Markdown within HTML tags. This would serve a similar purpose in that Markdown could continue to be used within major content divs typed as HTML in the Markdown editing area etc - though I guess this idea might interfere with the idea that the editing area should be pure Markdown, Markdown Extra or HTML.