[Community Feedback] Using a What-you-see-is-what-you-get markdown editor or not #12840

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GiteaMirror · 2025-11-02T10:22:33-06:00

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:33 -06:00

Originally created by @delvh on GitHub (Apr 14, 2024).

Hello everyone,

Historically, Gitea always had a Markdown editor that immediately previewed how the result would look like:

However, all existing editors we have experimented with turned out to have various unfixable bugs and were fundamentally flawed, worst of all regarding accessibility and that the end result can differ from what the editor displays.

As such, we have already deprecated our existing editor (EasyMDE) in 1.20.0.
Instead, you only see the text you entered:

Now, we are considering whether to drop the editor highlighting completely.

Warning

If you rely on the immediate preview how your comment will look like, please let your voice be heard in this issue.
If there is no huge demand, we will drop immediate Markdown highlighting in 1.23.0.

Important

You can still see how a text will be rendered by clicking on the Preview tab in every editor:

Important

Anything that is already present on the server (markdown files, issue comments, PR descriptions, PR reviews, …) is unaffected and will still render as Markdown.
Only the preview how your comments etc. will look like will be less immediate as you must first navigate to Preview.

Originally created by @delvh on GitHub (Apr 14, 2024). Hello everyone, Historically, Gitea always had a Markdown editor that immediately previewed how the result would look like: ![image](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/assets/51889757/2fa7dca9-fe60-4e8c-9699-d8ff3cd9b66a) However, all existing editors we have experimented with turned out to have various unfixable bugs and were fundamentally flawed, worst of all regarding accessibility and that the end result can differ from what the editor displays. As such, we have already deprecated our existing editor (EasyMDE) in [1.20.0](https://blog.gitea.com/release-of-1.20.0/#rocket-better-editor-text-area-23876). Instead, you only see the text you entered: ![image](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/assets/51889757/45121ebd-3a51-414d-99f1-4859bd71eca3) Now, we are considering whether to drop the editor highlighting completely. > [!WARNING] If you rely on the immediate preview how your comment will look like, please let your voice be heard in this issue. If there is no huge demand, we will drop immediate Markdown highlighting in 1.23.0. > [!IMPORTANT] You can still see how a text will be rendered by clicking on the `Preview` tab in every editor: ![image](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/assets/51889757/e624e100-703c-43c2-8710-753e26c30bd9) > [!IMPORTANT] Anything that is already present on the server (markdown files, issue comments, PR descriptions, PR reviews, …) is unaffected and will still render as Markdown. Only the preview how your comments etc. will look like will be less immediate as you must first navigate to `Preview`.

GiteaMirror added the issue/needs-feedback label 2025-11-02 10:22:33 -06:00

GiteaMirror closed this issue

2025-11-02 10:22:33 -06:00

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:34 -06:00

@stuzer05 commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2024):

What are current problems with preview tab? We use it. At least, if not features are supported, they can be disabled for preview. But it's essential for formatting an issue

@stuzer05 commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2024): What are current problems with preview tab? We use it. At least, if not features are supported, they can be disabled for preview. But it's essential for formatting an issue

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:34 -06:00

@eeyrjmr commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2024):

What are current problems with preview tab? We use it. At least, if not features are supported, they can be disabled for preview.

No issue with preview tab
Issue with the editor (Write) tab "trying" to do some form of previewing.

@eeyrjmr commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2024): > What are current problems with preview tab? We use it. At least, if not features are supported, they can be disabled for preview. No issue with preview tab Issue with the editor (`Write`) tab "trying" to do some form of previewing.

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:35 -06:00

@KazzmanK commented on GitHub (Apr 16, 2024):

Never noticed that editor tab was trying to beautify text in any form. Crafting tables is a bit annoying, but my colleagues never complained about lack of wysiwyg

@KazzmanK commented on GitHub (Apr 16, 2024): Never noticed that editor tab was trying to beautify text in any form. Crafting tables is a bit annoying, but my colleagues never complained about lack of wysiwyg

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:35 -06:00

@Crown0815 commented on GitHub (Apr 23, 2024):

From my perspective, a WYSIWYG editor is nice to have, but not essential in any way due to the preview.
Github also has none.

@Crown0815 commented on GitHub (Apr 23, 2024): From my perspective, a WYSIWYG editor is nice to have, but not essential in any way due to the preview. Github also has none.

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:35 -06:00

@Pontiac76 commented on GitHub (Apr 26, 2024):

If yanking the ability to see in real time what the font-face of the text is going to be affects the security of the system, it shouldn't exist.

I love my WYSIWYG, and if it's removed, I'd be absolutely happy to write my own external WYSIWYG2MU (* to markup) for different markup sites. Gives me something to do.

@Pontiac76 commented on GitHub (Apr 26, 2024): If yanking the ability to see in real time what the font-face of the text is going to be affects the security of the system, it shouldn't exist. I love my WYSIWYG, and if it's removed, I'd be absolutely happy to write my own external WYSIWYG2MU (* to markup) for different markup sites. Gives me something to do.

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:35 -06:00

@Pontiac76 commented on GitHub (Apr 26, 2024):

That said... would be kind of nice to have a real time optional side view of the content instead of having to switch tabs... even in a popup window or something for those lucky enough to have the screen real estate (I have 5 monitors, and sometimes I STILL run out of real estate!)

@Pontiac76 commented on GitHub (Apr 26, 2024): That said... would be kind of nice to have a real time optional side view of the content instead of having to switch tabs... even in a popup window or something for those lucky enough to have the screen real estate (I have 5 monitors, and sometimes I STILL run out of real estate!)

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:35 -06:00

@wxiaoguang commented on GitHub (May 2, 2024):

I have a feeling that there are enough end users who still like the visual feedback by a "smart" markdown editor. Maybe some modern editors could replace the unmaintained EasyMDE.

For example, some editors:

@wxiaoguang commented on GitHub (May 2, 2024): I have a feeling that there are enough end users who still like the visual feedback by a "smart" markdown editor. Maybe some modern editors could replace the unmaintained EasyMDE. For example, some editors: * https://github.com/Milkdown/milkdown * https://github.com/jefago/tiny-markdown-editor * https://github.com/nhn/tui.editor * https://github.com/mdx-editor/editor

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:36 -06:00

@xxfogs commented on GitHub (May 12, 2024):

There are some non-technical people using my Gitea deployment and a WYSIWYG is particularly helpful for them as they're not too good at remembering markdown.

Preview works flawlessly but they still prefer seeing formatting immediately.

@xxfogs commented on GitHub (May 12, 2024): There are some non-technical people using my Gitea deployment and a WYSIWYG is particularly helpful for them as they're not too good at remembering markdown. Preview works flawlessly but they still prefer seeing formatting immediately.

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:36 -06:00

@julmb commented on GitHub (May 29, 2024):

I'd rather have a clean plain text editing experience and an accurate preview than a WYSIWYG editor that does a mediocre job at both of these.

However, it would be really nice if there was a keyboard shortcut to switch between editing and preview. Or is that already a thing?

@julmb commented on GitHub (May 29, 2024): I'd rather have a clean plain text editing experience and an accurate preview than a WYSIWYG editor that does a mediocre job at both of these. However, it would be really nice if there was a keyboard shortcut to switch between editing and preview. Or is that already a thing?

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:36 -06:00

@amrsoll commented on GitHub (May 31, 2024):

It is nice to have a WYSIWYG for non-technical users who need to interact with developers through Gitea, especially with tables and images. The communication barrier would be lowered.

@amrsoll commented on GitHub (May 31, 2024): It is nice to have a WYSIWYG for non-technical users who need to interact with developers through Gitea, especially with tables and images. The communication barrier would be lowered.

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 10:22:36 -06:00

@GiteaBot commented on GitHub (Jul 1, 2024):

We close issues that need feedback from the author if there were no new comments for a month. 🍵

@GiteaBot commented on GitHub (Jul 1, 2024): We close issues that need feedback from the author if there were no new comments for a month. :tea:

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Reference: github-starred/gitea#12840