Marked 2.5.11 has (finally) been birthed, available via automatic update for the direct version, Mac App Store update, and on Setapp. This is a big release, and has been in development for over a year1. Long pregnancy, but this release includes over 30 improvements/fixes, as well as a slew of new capabilities (full changelog). It’s the fastest, most powerful release of Marked 2 yet. I’d be grateful if you left a review on the MAS (or updated one)!

Side note: This pregnancy metaphor gets weird fast. It sounds like there might be something wrong with the child, but consider it a new step in human evolution. A superhuman that’s really good at multitasking and Markdown rendering. I apologize in advance, please bear with me.

New Features

I offered an ultrasound of some new features back in August. Those included:

  • Support for IA Writer file include syntax (/filename on its own line, with automatic file type detection for code, tables, text/markdown, and images)
  • Embed CSV files using any of Marked’s supported file include syntaxes and have them instantly converted into Markdown tables in the Preview (and also in the Markdown export)
  • A new Edward Tufte inspired preview style: Ink (replaces Antique, which was starting to look, I dunno, dated?2)

Fast forward 9 months and the baby is finally born. It’s grown the following extra limbs in utero:

  • New and updated app compatibility:
    • MarsEdit 4
    • Scrivener 3
    • Highland (and updated Fountain.io support)
    • TextPack (compressed TextBundles) handling
  • Full screen mode for table of contents, fixed to left (automatically enabled when switching to full screen, and can be manually switched from a button on ⌘T TOC popup)

I’ll need to document this one further, but there’s also a new method in the URL handler that lets you add a new Custom Style to Marked via a link (x-marked://addstyle?name=My+new+style&css=[url encoded CSS]). Just pass a name and the url encoded CSS and a new file is generated and added to the Custom Style menu automatically. This should make sharing styles even easier. I’ll be sharing an updated StyleStealer bookmarklet very soon to allow a one-click way to duplicate styles from your own sites into Marked for previewing.

Also, the multi-lingual Spelling and Grammar add-on (detects language per-paragraph, so you can use it in documents containing multiple languages) is no longer an add-on. Due to complications with providing parity between the Mac App Store and direct versions, I’m just including it for all users. If you paid the $1.99 for it and now feel robbed, I can refund your purchase. Or you can consider it a “thank you” for not making Marked a subscription-based app…

Other Improvements and Fixes

Other complications that were resolved during the final trimester.

  • Multiple improvements to Fountain support are included, including better handling of title pages and dual dialog.
  • CriticMarkup support is improved and the word count feature updates properly between the Original, Markup, and Edited tabs.
  • The MathJax library is updated as well as the CDN links included in export (because MathJax is discontinuing their own CDN).
  • The help documentation is updated and improved, as well as the internal Help Viewer in Marked 2.
  • Emoji no longer break the spellcheck.
  • Including metadata within HTML comments is more flexible.
  • Leanpub Aside icons are fixed
  • A couple dozen other things

Thanks

Thanks to the beta tester doulas for their help in making the new features actually work. And thanks to everyone who’s been submitting bug reports and improving Marked along the way. My apologies for fixing all this stuff and then allowing the release to be so delayed.

I’m sure there will still be bugs, and I’ll be putting a week or two into expedited fixes and rapidly releasing incremental updates. But in between those and immediately following, it’s BitWriter time. I swear on all that is sacred that it’s coming.

Grab the free trial of the latest version from the Marked 2 website. Marked 2 is also available on Setapp and the Mac App Store.

  1. Not entirely due to time spent on Marked, of course. There was also time dedicated to Bitwriter and other projects, medical issues, and a divorce, and a move. ↩

  2. Not that Tufte’s styling is cutting edge modern, but I think it has more of a place in document presentation. ↩