I like the fact that the github issue tracker supports Markdown. However, I find it relatively unpleasant to actually write Markdown in the github editor. It lacks many of the features of the Markdown editor on StackOverflow.
E.g., it lacks:
a button to indent multiple lines of code by four spaces
a button to add quote to the start of each line
real time markdown preview
fixed width font
ability to insert image using imgur
a confirmation dialog box when you close a browser window when you might otherwise lose your work
In particular, the inability to insert code blocks is probably the feature I miss the most.
Sure, I could write my markdown in a separate editor and then paste it into the github issue tracker, but this is not especially appealing. I could even use the StackOverflow editor if I was careful not to click "Ask Question", but that seems a bit silly.
Question
Is there anyway of altering the text box in github to incorporate the editing features in StackOverflow?
Or if it is better to type in another text editor, what's a particularly elegant way of doing that? (e.g., minimum steps, simple to move back and forward, good editor) Perhaps theres a way of clicking a text box and bringing up a Rich Markdown editor which when closed returns the contents to the original text box?
You should appeal to GitHub to add one. Your argument is sound. Stack Overflow demonstrates editors can be functional, non-intrusive and tasteful.
Meanwhile, there might be a browser extension that does some of this. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cpojebknccclkjabfngjlcknonpmhhol
If you are on Windows, you might want to check MarkPad: http://code52.org/DownmarkerWPF/
Disclaimer: I have never used it myself (being on Ubuntu), only read about it watching the code52 project. I know it can edit posts of several blog systems, but I'm not sure if Github is in the list of supported web sources. Its syntax however is supported, for sure.
The challenge:
Provide dynamic web fonts that render acceptably across all major browsers, devices and Operating Systems
The story:
So I had used cufon or sifr in the past and had since abandoned both in favor of #font-face. After using #font-face in production for some time, I made a horrifying discovery. Many fonts (most?) look like crap in Windows XP, regardless of browser. Even in google chrome, XP renders the fonts unacceptably jagged and ugly.
I am aware of why this is happening. After reading many excellent posts on ye olde stack overflow, I understand the issue is NOT of font hinting, but of XP having clear-type set to off be default. So ALL fonts are jagged in XP by default regardless of application.
So... if #font-face works great everywhere BUT XP with clear-type off, and is still superior to cufon what should we be doing?
Possible solutions:
#font-face as default, Cufon with user agent sniffing for windows XP.
(currently using, and very much not loving it)
#font-face alone with yet unknown method of forcing clear-type
Cufon alone :(
Another paradigm all together
Failed solutions:
Adobe Typekit (jagged in XP on their own website!, even though they show a smooth specimen jpeg)
Google Webfonts (same problem with XP)
#font-face alone (same problem with XP)
Cufon so far works everywhere, but just sucks, and offers additional challenges if you are animating anything, or wish to update the text after the fact.
Do you have a solution that works completely cross browser and cross OS? What is the best way to handle this?
I'm pretty sure the web-fonts, which look ugly, are missing some hinting (edit: Nope, even though hinting is still required to make a font look good on windows, the real problem here was the disabled ClearType in XP. However, this answer has a solution anyway).
Unlike font renderers on other operating systems the windows engine relies on hinting information shipped with the font. If the hinting is missing, bad or broken the font will look ugly - simple as that. Luckly there's a way to add some automatically generated hinting to a ttf-font using ttfautohint. After adding the hinting you can generate the different web-font-formats (eof, woff, etc) you need from the enhanced TTF. Additionally you should try to use SVG fonts if font-smoothing is disabled, since they are always rendered with antialiasing.
I've written an article on how to create web-fonts on Pixels|Bytes, which explains how to add hinting to a font and how to use my Font Smoothie script to enable SVG fonts when necessary. Hope this helps :)
PS: I'm aware that linking to my own blog won't be appreciated here, but I think my post describes a good solution to the problem, so I posted it anyway. Please leave a comment if you want me to remove the link and I'll do so.
http://www.useragentman.com/blog/2009/11/29/how-to-detect-font-smoothing-using-javascript/
This is what I have found works so far. This solution detects jagged fonts, so then we can do something like this: #font-face as standard, and Cufon as fallback.
In my case, I found that the answer does not in fact center on enabling Clear Type in WinXP. Whether Clear Type is enabled or disabled, I find that some of my #font-face English fonts (especially BLACK, SANS-SERIF) look bad in IE7 and IE8. It's sometimes more than just being jagged or having bad anti-aliasing. The big problem I see is that the shape of the font itself (some fonts, not all) seems to squish into something quite unattractive. I found an acceptable solution by following the advice of Torben. Font Hinting was all I needed, and again, that solution has nothing to do with Clear Type being enabled. To get the font hinting app up and running, read the instructions here:
https://gist.github.com/davelab6/3783491
(I used the "ttfautohint-0.95.tar.gz" file here): http://sourceforge.net/projects/freetype/files/ttfautohint/0.95/
You should also review the documentation, and you need to also install MacPorts (or you will get an error in the Terminal during your build), but since my rep score prevents me from posting more than two URLs, you'll have to Google for that.
Better hinting doesn't mean your #font-face fonts will now look as perfectly smooth and great on IE in WinXP as they do on Macintosh browsers. But I found that the font hinting prevents nasty distortions in the shape of some fonts within IE7 and IE8. To me, that is an acceptable solution.
I can only add that it's rather troublesome to build the ttfautohintGUI on OSX. You have to installed hundreds of MB of software, downloading from multiple locations too, just to build the GUI app. But once done, the app allows you easily to hint your #Font-Face fonts and resolve many WinXP display issues. Just be sure to tick "Windows Compatibility" in the GUI (it's unticked by default). I also unticked the "Add ttfautohintinfo" and "Pre-hinting" options, leaving everything else as their defaults. Click "Browse..." to add your Input File (the font you want to hint), and then copy and paste that path in the Output File, changing the filename to whatever you want it to be. You won't enable the "Run" button unless there is something in both the Input File and Output File fields.
Best wishes.
when I try to write an Arabic language words in xcode editor it does not display correctly, it's displayed as messed up words and reversed (the output in iPhone is OK), so it becomes harder for me to review the strings I entered in the editor, is there anyway to overcome this issue ?
I think those are bugs in Xcode (you can try changing the font, but I don't think the direction can be changed).
However, it is generally preferable to write your strings in English and then use internationalization (i18n) techniques to convert and display them in Arabic at runtime. A quick google revealed this blogpost. This solves two issues:
You can support any number of languages.
You can store your Arabic text in a separate file and edit it with an external editor, making it easier to work with.
I'm writing a system to send out HTML formatted email and have discovered the dingbats and other symbols in some unicode fonts - these seem perfect for replacing images in the email.
But, if I find a use a character, how can I know if it will been seen on most/all systems? - I cant seem to find a list of cross-platform unicode symbols.
Also, am I correct that if the unicode character you specify is not in the selected font, a fallback font will be used - this appear to be true on the Mac, but I have no idea about Windows.
Yes, the display of Unicode depends entirely on what font set is installed on the recipient's computer. There is no such thing as a "list of cross-platform unicode symbols". Unicode by itself is pretty much cross-platform but there are hardly any fonts which cover the whole Unicode repertoire in any particular point in time (consider how often Unicode is updated, too).
I am looking for a (simple) text editor that can handle text in different encodings in the same document.
I need to develop some sites with mixed Japanese and English text and the editors I have now (on an English Windows system) are unable to display the Japanese text.
Jedit files don't display the Japanese text I have inputted but when I look at the file in a browser it shows up correctly.
Gvim shows all Japanese text in the editor as question marks and also in the browser.
In Gvim inputting the kanji works (you input the pronounciation and then press space bar to get the kanji) but when you confirm the kanji you want it replaces that kanji with question marks. (1 question mark for every kanji).
Can someone recommend me a text editor to edit html and php files that is able to display utf-8 encoded text and also save as an utf-8 file ?
thank you.
After reading about emacs I installed it. see below.
Thanks everybody for the hints.
if you don't have a unicode font yet you have to find one online or buy one.
here are the instructions to install the font on a windows system http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314960
jEdit
I changed my font in Jedit to a UTF font and now the Japanese shows up normally.
inputting the Japanese is still problematic as you don't see what you are typing.
(to change your font to edit files go to Utilities -> Global Options -> text area
select a Unicode font and you'll be able to see the Japanese characters.
gVim
I am still trying to figure out how to add a font in gvim. Once I know how to do that I ll update this.
Emacs
Emacs does not show the kanji correctly, they are displayed as ??? but at least I can see what I type in Japanese and select the right word.
so at this point I have to say that in jEdit I can see Japanese text but I can't input Japanese text. Gvim I can input Japanese text but inside the text area it is displayed as ??? and the same goes for Emacs.
adding a font in emacs and gvim is sadly enough not a trivial task.
At the moment I use notepad with the Arial unicode MS font and saving as UTF-8 file as my Japanese editor. Not ideal but at least it works.
Notepad++ is highly recommended.
Emacs correctly handles UTF-8 for me. (And of course, it can edit HTML and PHP files).
I would recommend Vim still. The problem you were seeing with questions marks is probably an issue with the font you were using. When displaying text that contains characters not in the currently language applications typically display them as empty boxes or question marks. See here for UTF-8 support in Vim.
This section of the Vim manual is also helpful, especially for setting up UTF-8 in Windows.
There is an issue with most Unicode-aware text editors: when you select a font, they stick to it. If the font does not include a glyph for a character, then the default substitution character (I believe U+FFFD, REPLACEMENT CHARACTER) is used.
In contrast, web browsers typically try to find a glyph for the characters they have to display among all the fonts provided by the system.
So, what you need, if you don't have the font "Arial Unicode MS" or similar (including Japanese glyphs), is an editor that tries to match glyphs with other fonts except the selected one.
Until someone provides a link for such an editor, I'll suggest a (somewhat extreme :) editor:
Install the latest stable python 2.x version for MS Windows (currently 2.6).
Include "idle" in the installation.
Start → Programs → Python 2,6 → Idle (Python Gui)
The "idle" editor is typically used to edit python code (and test it interactively in the Python shell). However, it can be used as a plain fully-Unicode-aware text editor, and when saving text including non-ASCII chars, it defaults to UTF-8 encoding.
Now, idle is based on Tkinter, which is an interface to tk, which is a gui library for tcl; tcl/tk, like web browsers, when asked to display a character for which no glyph is present in the widget font, it searches other fonts too.
However far-fetched this may seem, I really believe it would help; if no other solution helps you, give it a try.
Vim works fine for me as a UTF-8 text editor.
Firstly, you need a font that has the characters you are using. Choosing another text editor won't help you with this (unless it searches for other fonts for the correct characters when the font you are using doesn't have them). If you are using gVim, you can set the font like:
set guifont=Consolas
(This is not to say that Consolas is the font you want.) You probably want to put this in the .vimrc file so that it is always used.
Secondly, Vim needs to interpret the file as UTF-8, which it doesn't always automatically do. To make it do this, do:
set encoding=utf8
You can also see what encoding it is using with:
set encoding?
EmEditor is written by a Japanese company for exactly this purpose. It is a fine text editor with good performance/simplicity but pretty much all the features expected of a capable editor; I use it as my default when on the Windows platform, as well as for editing Japanese web page templates. It deserves to be better-known IMO; it is at least as good as, say, TextPad, but with full Unicode support.
Unfortunately it is not free, however you can find a free version of the old EmEditor 6 at sites such as download.com.
You can use just Notepad.exe with the "Arial Unicode MS" font (if all of your text is left-to-right, given the English windows version). Just Save as, select UTF-8.
In general, use your favourite editor with a font like "Arial Unicode MS". I mention this one because is the font with the greatest Unicode coverage I have seen,
Try BabelPad. Editing-wise, it's simple. Unicode-support-wise, it's awesome!
It sounds like maybe the problem with Jedit is the font - are you using a font that can display all the characters correctly?
To be more precise, Arial Unicode MS is a reasonable choice for a Unicode font that can display a wide range of characters across the range of languages. There are certain issues with it that can make it less than optimal for some languages used in isolation - this is why there are also language specific Unicode fonts included with Windows.
I've never had a problem with vim as long as I use a font that actually contains the characters I want. It needs to be a monospace font. :set enc=utf8 to get to utf8 mode. Then you can use :digraph command to get a display of available characters, and see how each is displayed.
To add a font, add it in Windows (Control Panel/Fonts/Add Font). If it's a monospace font, it will then show up in vin in /Edit/Font.
Just to add another one: I just checked that Programmer's Notepad 2 has some UTF-8 setting too.
(vim and emacs do just fine as well)
EditPlus seems to be an better option for UTF-8 as I have used it.
EditPad Lite and Pro fully support Unicode as of version 6. (Disclaimer: Those are my own products.)
If you get question marks, you're using an encoding that does not support Japanese characters. In EditPad, you can change the text encoding (Unicode, legacy code pages) via Convert, Text Encoding. You can set the defaults per file type in Options, Configure File Types, Encoding.
If you see squares instead of Japanese characters, select a Japanse font or Unicode font. You can do this in EditPad via Options, Font.
To type Japanese, simply install a Japanese keyboard driver in the keyboard settings in the Windows Control Panel, if you haven't already.
EditPad Pro has preconfigured file types for PHP and HTML.
Kate. and by extension, any other KDE program that uses Kate as an embedded KPart (KWrite, Quanta+, KDevelop). It handles lots of encodings, but i like to always use UTF-8. It also has a huge collection of syntax highlightings.
Try SciTE http://gisdeveloper.tripod.com/scite.html. It's just great ;)
For very basic UTF-8 multilingual text editing, I have had good luck with BabelPad (www.babelstone.co.uk): it's free, simple and robust and displays almost everything with no fuss. When the editing needs are more severe, I resort a lot to EditPad Pro, or occasionally Notepad++. For non-Unicode editing on Windows, I'm a TextPad user--my staff and I have probably spent about 200,000 hours in TextPad, with only occasional forays into NotePad2, MadEdit, jEdit, XML Copy Editor, and EPCedit. The latter two handle UTF-8 XML files well. All of the editors mentioned above are free except TextPad and EditPad Pro. Thanks to the person who suggested Emeditor. I'll try it out. --PFSchaffner
I like jEdit for it's ability to ident wrapped lines. Really nice when editing XML files. A word of warning though: It's Java, so it's not light fast, like you would expect a text editor to be.
Text codecs are fully supported. It distinguishes between text files with and without the header identifying the file format (byte order mark), calling them UTF-8 and UTF-8Y. This is something that I'm missing in other text editors.
Try EditPlus. It has specific support for HTML, syntax highlighting and can also work as a simple IDE for any compiler.
On the Mac: SubEthaEdit has excellent support for character encodings.
TextPad is a good utility too. It's a trialware, but does the job fine. See how to set char-encoding-setting-in-textpad.
For japanese, Sakura Editor is exceptional. It can display UTF-8, EUC-JP, SJIS and so on.
http://www.ultraedit.com/ is a multiplatform editor that does UTF-8 and all kinds of conversions between formats
EditPad Pro ... is recommended for u
cheers ;)