reader

A local, two-pane reader and editor for a directory of markdown. Pick a file: it’s rendered on the left and editable on the right, and the left side follows you as you type.

$ reader ~/Documents/notes

What it reads is reader-markdown: ordinary markdown, as GitHub writes it, and a few more things for taking notes, reviewing, teaching and presenting. A file of it still reads as plain text anywhere else.

This is an aside, written as a line starting ~. These pages are reader-markdown too, saved as HTML with reader export.

Each sample in these pages has two tabs: Source, what you’d type, and Rendered, what reader makes of it. The pages are saved copies, so what you click on in reader (a date’s calendar, a field to fill in, a puzzle to play, a recipe’s multiplier) shows here as it’s written, not as it works.

Getting started

Tutorials

Each one uses what it teaches, and comes with a file to practice on, to download into reader.

  • How to Take Notes Like a Boss: a day of talks, from bullets typed fast to your own thoughts, questions, words to look up, quotes and things to do

Samples

Pages to make your own: each one to download into reader, and copy.

  • A daily journal: a day of self-care as a workbook, a page at a time, someone’s Monday kept; download it, and Copy for today starts your own

Writing

  • Asides: your own voice in the margin, who it’s from and what it’s about, and the words it means
  • Styling text: colors and fonts, arrows, math, notes to play, emoji
  • Links: scripture, RFCs, searches, profiles, other files
  • Notes on a talk: questions and answers, retro cards, definitions, quotes
  • Forms and checklists: tasks, fields to fill in, blanks, dates, timers
  • Layout: ::: blocks, columns, rows, grids, tabs, compare, callouts, number badges
  • Code: highlighting, picked lines, callouts, output
  • Diagrams and figures: Mermaid, headlines, numbers, images
  • Puzzles: sudoku, train tracks, word search, coordinate graphs, mazes
  • Recipes: amounts that scale, staged boxes, steps, ingredients, a log
  • The page: the masthead, fonts and backgrounds

Using reader

  • Files: the file list, outlines, going to a place, versions, saving
  • Work and present: a page to read and fill in, and decks of slides
  • Export and print: one HTML file, paper, and keeping both in step on GitHub
  • Light and dark: the theme, more contrast, and the system’s own colours
  • Keys