We all have heard the famous saying that necessity is the mother of invention. A similar problem faced me, while I was writing my article on the Dev platform.
Link to Extension: Dev.to Markdown Preview
We have the option to choose our editor either as a Rich + Markdown or Basic Markdown. Common amongst both is that we have to write the article in markdown language.
On the platform, if I write something and want to see the preview, I need to click on a preview button. Post clicking the button I will be navigated to the page which will take me to the preview page.
Once I saw the preview, I need to click on another button that will take me back to the editor. The engineer inside me keep on shouting that this needs to be changed.
I have learnt with experience that for a better user experience, the CTA should be less. Once you have achieved your goal of CTA to a minimum, you should now work on user experience that includes minimum redirects.
Unless your application is for internal purposes, you should give a smooth experience to your customers. So without wasting any more time, I introduce you to a new chrome extension which will help you mitigate this problem with the Dev platform.
Currently, I won't deny the fact, that it is not in its optimal condition, but personally earlier I was keeping it to myself. Then I felt to share it with others so that even if any one person can utilise it will be a win for me.
This is the 0.0.1 version, the next major version will be much improved. As of date it only supports the dev platform but in future, I am planning to launch a preview for a couple of more blogging websites.
Following is the sample preview of the same article. Here with the click of an extension button, you will be able to see the preview of your article. The sole purpose of the extension is to improve your writing experience.
There are various updates which are already on my bucket list which are as follows.
- Add Cover photo support to preview.
- Add Preview for other popular applications.
- Improve Markdown handling for more tags.
- Improve Error Handling.
These are a few of the things that I plan to launch in the following upgraded version. I will ensure your upcoming version will cover more good features as this is my first chrome extension. Positive/ constructive feedback is always welcomed.
About The Author
Apoorv Tomar is a software developer and part of Mindroast. You can connect with him on Twitter, Linkedin, and Telegram. Subscribe to the newsletter for the latest curated content. Don’t hesitate to say ‘Hi’ on any platform, just stating a reference of where did you find my profile.
