#11

I do most of my writing and editing outside Obsidian. Partly because I use Android most of the time, but partly because the feature sets are different. Being able to do this is one of great features of Obsidian.

1 Like
#12

I second this suggestion to have WYSIWYM (what you see is what you mean), just like Typora. I am no fan of Markdown because it fills the text with Markdown which makes the text difficult to read. (I am a fan of Markdown when it comes to the power of what it can do!) I think through writing (typing). What I type into Obsidian is not a complete thought, it is in the typing out that my thoughts emerge. Changing to the preview window is sort of a workaround. Having WYSIWYM is a good compromise. :slight_smile: Just my two cents. :slight_smile:

9 Likes
#13

+1 to this! It’s the only BIG feature missing that prevents me from fully adopting Obsidian.

17 Likes
#14

I’m using both Roam and Obsidian at the moment while I decide which to fully migrate to. Obsidian is perfect, apart from this. In Roam I don’t always have to switch between edit and preview mode which I find a real distraction and workflow bottleneck in Obsdn. Can’t wait to see this essentail feature integrated! When it does I’ll be in with both feet!

7 Likes
#15

That’s what everyone wants.
I hope it is the next feature to be developed.

7 Likes
#16

I don’t think it’s what everybody wants, but a subset of people, just like people would even want a more plain text / Markdown look (like me) for the editor.

The same reasons that were brought up “against” a pure markdown view (which in my opinion could be just text with highlighted Markdown syntax, as I made my theme look like), are the same reasons “for” it — e.g. I would want to see the exact links all the time.

Arguing for this kind of work view in addition to the currently existing workflow is totally fine for me, but instead of would be something I disagree with.

On a personal side of needs, there’s about as much additional value in WYSIWYM as a Andy Matuschak view. It looks nice, it is great for consumption — which are two things that come for me after text work and production, and not instead, nor in front.

9 Likes
#17

Totally agreed here, and just want to note that Typora also has a source code mode for people who don’t like WYSIWYM or need precise configuration (which I often do to Typora tables).

Slightly off-topic: I think Typora is a product well worth looking into in every aspect in terms of UX. It is the best markdown editor I’ve used so far, in that it’s really “fluent”. And IMHO that level of fluency cannot be achieved without WYSIWYM, e.g. a user-friendly table editor.

6 Likes
#18

For me it is an intrinsic part of workflow. Write, look at screen, weigh it up, maybe revise a little, write some more. Anything that distracts from seeing only the writing is an impediment. I need to review what the reader will see.

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#19

Fair enough, and so do i! I just do revising / reviewing as the very last part (where I’d find a Typora like environment probably very useful). But until then, the workflow needs to serve me, not a reader.

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#20

I see this as a further stage before editing (and that I will do outside the program). But the reading is an intrinsic part of the writing stage.

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#21

Yes, for you it is, and it’s totally fine. I’m not arguing against that. I just work differently, and I have different needs, such as that reading is one of the last things I try to do while writing. This doesn’t make your user case better or worse; and by the same means, you can’t generalise yours.

As I wrote, I’m not against a “Typora-mode”, I just wouldn’t want it instead of a text based / preview mode.

5 Likes
#22

I agree about your comments about Typora, I use it every day.
There is another, very good, little known markdown app: VNote. I also use it every day.

So, I now have 3 markdown apps I use, and would like to use Obsidian as a 1-stop shop.

WYSIWYM and ToC are the big ticket hurdles right now.

2 Likes
#23

It does not need to be either-or. It can be and-and with a simple toggle, as it is in Typora.

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#24

There is no reason to delete Editor Mode, WYSIWYG is just the ability to edit directly in Preview Mode.

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#25

Correct. An editor mode needs to be available because one needs to be able to edit the raw markdown code.

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#26

If it’s possible to edit everything through Preview Mode I don’t see why anyone would need it, but ok …

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#27

There should be an Edit mode too because, as pointed out above, for some additions/amendments you need to get to the raw markdown, which you cannot do in Preview mode.

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#28

Are you talking about seeing the full link? You can simply paste the link without any code like I do (it looks ridiculous in Edit Mode, it just makes it harder to read) or if it is WYSIWYG you see only the name of the link and clicking or hovering over it you can see the complete link.

1 Like
#29

I am fully aware of that, I use Typora every day.

I am talking about fixing e.g. empty lines, or indentations, or bullet points, etc.

4 Likes
#30

+1 for this feature. Really happy to know it is on the long term roadmap for Obsidian, but for now I will be sticking to Typora as my primary markdown writing software. I’ve found having to toggle back and forth between preview and edit too much of a barrier to find Obsidian “delightful” for my casual PKM use case.

However, I agree split view should stay. I think it could be really important for use cases where the documents are more of a formal repository, esp if it is shared with others. In WYSIWYG editors it’s really easy to accidentally modify the document while browsing, especially with auto-save feature (this is why Google Docs, for example, is a terrible tool for building wikis for documentation IMO). Having an intentional toggle between edit and preview mode is really useful when your docs need to be more “controlled” with regards to whether you are only viewing or intend to make edits, if that makes sense.

But again, agree with everyone saying here - Typora’s UX is just so incredible and frictionless :drooling_face: Would be 100% happy with Obsidian taking UX ideas from Typora (I find Obsidian’s UX currently rather challenging and mentally labor intensive to work with)

10 Likes