Markdown Service Tools v3.0 - BrettTerpstra.com

unverified 4y, 112d ago

Hi there,

I'm still on macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) cause older Macs. I installed the newest md-Library and the md-Service-Tools 3 but the for me most interesting feature the "mmd to RTF Service" doesn't work here. Neither in Mail, Textedit or Pages. What are the minimum requirements for this services? Or can I do something else to get it work? Thx!

remark

Brett 4y, 112d ago

I'm afraid I have no way to test on a system that old. That Service has been one that's stopped working several times as the OS upgrades, and it's been modified over time to work with whatever is latest. Quite likely not backward compatible.

remark

MitchWagner 4y, 239d ago

Hi, Brett! Good updates here. What made you switch to Firefox -- presumably from Safari?

remark

Brett 4y, 239d ago

Was a long-time Chrome user, actually. I didn't love its memory usage or Google's privacy policies. Firefox was always tempting, there were just a few plugins I relied on that weren't available. Once Workona showed up for Firefox, it was an easy jump to make.

remark

MitchWagner 4y, 236d ago

Two things keeping me on Safari:

Power utilization
Sync with iOS.

Power utilization isn’t a problem nowadays. I’m not going anywhere. And sync with iOS isn’t an issue with iOS14/iPadOS 14.

I’ll poke around in available Firefox extensions and see if there’s any compelling reason for me to switch there.

Unrelated: After seeing Remarkbox here I added it to my own blog, figuring if it’s good enough for Brett Terpstra it’s good enough for me. So thanks for that!

remark

Brett 4y, 235d ago

I'll admit that I use multiple browsers frequently (via Choosy), and open Safari regularly to get my Reading List items. All of my bookmarking is done via Pinboard, so I can access those in any browser, but the Reading List on iOS is hard to beat.

Remarkbox has worked really well for me here. If you have any trouble, the developer is very helpful!

remark

load more (1 remarks)

MitchWagner 4y, 235d ago

I sent the developer an email. The site doesn’t seem to have decent documentation. I can’t find anywhere it tells me why I want to sign up for a paid account. What would it get me (aside from supporting the service, which is significant).

remark

Brett 4y, 234d ago

I don't recall there being a free option, but I could be forgetting. I know that I prefer using services I pay for, even if it's just a little bit. Especially in the realm of blog addons/comment systems, I've learned that anything free is almost guaranteed to include privacy invasions for my users.

remark

MitchWagner 4y, 234d ago

I haven't heard back from the dev yet. That's fine; the day is yet young here on the West coast.

And I broke my Remarkbox integration on my blog and need to devote some time to fixing it. This is at the edge of my level of tech skills, which are extremely basic.

remark

Brett 4y, 233d ago

Not sure how you did that, I’ve never had to do more than paste a few lines of code into a template… hope the dev gets back to you!

remark

MitchWagner 4y, 233d ago

I fixed it. As you say, paste a few lines of code.

I still haven't heard back from the dev. I emailed a follow-up yesterday.

It's an odd website. I was unable to find a ratesheet or comparison of plans. I asked him what the diff is between the free plan -- which is listed as a developer plan on the site -- vs. the paid plan.

As you say, I'm happy to pay even if I don't use premium features, just to support a good service.

remark

SirShanksalot 4y, 252d ago

Hey Brett. Love this set of tools, so glad you're keeping it alive! I spread the word with a twitter promo for you. Now I wanted to raise a couple bugs I've run in to (unless it's just my source material which is entirely possible!)

One of my oft used workflows is 'Convert HTML to Markdown'. But I prefer the links to be inline (possible to tweak this anywhere?). So I try the next step 'Flip link style' but it seems to go the wrong direction and make reference links out of the already reference links! LOL

I also tried your new 'Links - Brave Tabs' and it worked away for awhile, apparently finished but nothing on the clipboard. It also seemed to crash the Services options so that none of the md - services show up in ANY browser now. Reboot will likely fix, I'll try that next. This was with 18 tabs in the front window + 6 pinned tabs (including a Workona one, not sure if it's detecting the hidden window of tabs in this somehow).

remark

Brett 4y, 251d ago

No, the HTML->Markdown conversion can only do reference links. But Flip Link Style works perfectly for me. It bases the flip on the first link in the document, so if you had an inline link at the beginning, it would convert everything to references.

Brave tabs also work perfectly for me. Note that it doesn't use the clipboard, it should be called with the cursor in a text field (preferably a Markdown document). It will insert the link directly into the document. Tested with 30 tabs, 2 pinned, and a Workona tab (it automatically ignores Workona). Not sure what to tell you about the "crash", I've seen services hang but not disappear from the menu...

remark

SirShanksalot 4y, 249d ago

Ok, I've narrowed down the issue with Flip Link Style. Yes, it works flawlessly for me on a piece I've typed up myself. The output from HTML->Markdown (mine is often from a WordPress editor that needs some reworking) is consistently putting 3 spaces before each reference link which is what is breaking the link flipping. If I remove those spaces it works fine!

And you are absolutely right on the Brave tabs! I was under the wrong impression I should have the browser in the foreground without cursor anywhere. As soon as I had the cursor in a blank NV Ultra beta window ;-) it was instantaneous! Brave-o

remark

Brett 4y, 249d ago

Ok, version 3.0.2 is available now and it offers two solutions. First, you can open the HTML->Markdown Service in Automator and locate the line that starts with INLINE_LINKS. If you change this to True, it will create inline links for you. Manually editing a Service like this means that any future updates you install will overwrite your changes and you'll have to make them again, but it's a pretty simple change.

Second, I removed the 3-space indent, so Flip Links will work properly without extra editing.

If the 3.0.2 download isn't available yet, check back in 20 minutes.

remark

load more (1 remarks)

SirShanksalot 4y, 249d ago

You're an absolute champ Brett! Works like a charm. I also diffed the 2 versions as I'm trying to strengthen my Python & Javascript knowledge into my FED skills. Quite a lot of work goes in to this!

Things are tight right now too and we also have 2 young dogs so hope yours are on the path to recovery! I will definitely donate some when I get a chance. I've bought and recommend all your commercial products.

Jason – Melbourne, Australia

remark

Brett 4y, 249d ago

Ah, yes, the html2text script that the HTML->Markdown conversion uses does put those spaces in, and you're correct, that breaks the Flip Links script. I don't have an immediate solution for that, but I'll look into it.

remark