WORKFLOWY MARKDOWN ARCHIVE
WORKFLOWY MARKDOWN CODE
WORKFLOWY MARKDOWN SERIES

WORKFLOWY MARKDOWN CODE

After fiddling around with it for a few days, I figured that I could both load in Pandoc and use it to have a graphical user interface for using it 1, and also that I could spin up a code editor that lets me edit Markdown files. Its idea is simple: Write a web-application, and load that into some binary so that it looks as if you had a native application on your computer. All experiments with actually writing longer texts using Markdown were just that: experiments.ĭuring the late summer of 2017, I played around a little bit with a framework I recently discovered, called Electron. And back in 2017, although Markdown was already 13 years old at that point, it was being used mainly as additional formatting for README files. So what I found was that there is a disconnect between a bunch of new opportunities that come with Markdown and the ways research works in general. But then, since Markdown is, strictly speaking, source code, you could basically edit it even with your operating system’s built-in text editor. First, Markdown itself requires a completely different style of working than, for instance, a Word document. However, none of these tools immediately appealed to me. I played around with Ulysses, nvALT, Atom, Abricotine, and some online-tools whose names I have long forgotten.

Already back then, in the summer of 2017, there were plenty of Markdown editors out there. It all started almost four years ago, when I began discovering the benefits of a Markdown-based workflow and tested out various methods of making this useful for research.

Collaborating especially with non-technical academics will be a tad more complicated than before.

WORKFLOWY MARKDOWN SERIES

For maximal efficiency, you’ll likely need more of the tools I’m introducing in this series (for instance, Zotero).Writing quick notes can sometimes be cumbersome (as of now).

Bundles many nice-to-have and important tools for writing (a Pomodoro timer, writing statistics, writing targets, a table editor, footnote support, reference lists, backlinks, Zettelkasten functionality, outlines, …).Strikes a balance between comfort and clarity with regard to display.Works with all the programs you probably already use for different use-cases (Zotero and JabRef, Word, RStudio, Python).Specific focus on academics and heavy text-editing (authors, writers, students, etc.).

WORKFLOWY MARKDOWN ARCHIVE

Alternatives: The Archive (not Open Source, macOS, Windows), Obsidian (not Open Source, cross-platform), HackMD (not Open Source, online), VS Code (cross-platform), Atom (cross-platform), and many, many, many more.

Supported Platforms: macOS/Windows/Linux.

So this article will be structured quite differently than the others. But then, to complicate matters, it’s a tool I develop myself. For starters, Zettlr sits at the heart of my whole workflow: Everything I read goes in there eventually, and everything I write (including these articles) emanates from it. I have waited several posts to introduce the core building block of my workflow – not because I have no sense of priorities, but rather because it’s special in several respects. So read on to see why I think Markdown, and not Word Processors, will mark the future of academic writing! But all of you who don’t know me will also find today’s part of my How I work-series interesting: Because it’s all about leaving your comfort zone of Word and entering a world that is still in flux, but nevertheless more powerful than anything before it. Some of you who are following me mainly via the project’s official Twitter account might have waited for this piece on Zettlr.

Workflowy markdown