Magicdown
£4.99/$9.99
We have to doff our caps to the enthusiastic blurb on Magicdown’s Mac App Store page. Hyperbolic statements like, “lightning fast rendering”, and “you could say it’s magic!” certainly big this up as being a very special app indeed. Essentially a Markdown editor that allows web writers to craft text using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format that is then converted to valid XHTML (or HTML), Magicdown prides itself on its minimal design and speed, and for good reason.
The interface itself is clean, distraction free and consists of two panels – one for writing text and making the necessary formats, and the other for previewing how your text will look on the web page. What really impresses is the speed at which it generates the web preview, it really is instantaneous with no lag whatsoever – perfect for staying in the creative flow. The app is packed with functionality too, so you can keep track of your work through multiple tabs, disable the preview pane to concentrate solely on your writing and apply an extensive range of formatting options to make your text stand out.
Less impressive is the much-hyped themes that are designed to aid your creativity. You can access these by going to the Preferences and choosing one from the drop-down menu. But rather than providing inspiring backdrops to write on, they just change the background and text colour with not a lot of variation between them. But this is a minor gripe against what is otherwise and exceptionally good Markdown editor.
Requirements Available from Mac App Store Learn more saikambampati.com “What really impresses is the speed at which it generates the web preview, it really is instantaneous”