Medium: is it worth your time and effort?
It is a paradox: why am I writing an article on Medium about why I don’t like it?
I usually return to Medium occasionally, wondering why I left a place like this. After all, they provide a distraction-free editor, that is appealing, a melting pot of articles, and is full of people who write stories, and I love stories! After all, one right story could change the world.
I wouldn’t say I like to discuss what’s working here; instead, I’d like to discuss some criticisms and issues, hoping they will be changed soon.
(SPOILER: it is improbable)
Markdown are you here?
Let’s talk about the editor and markdown: I cannot easily import my content into Medium, and vice versa: exporting my Medium content to other formats is a nightmare.
We can import articles from other websites, by clicking “Stories” and “Import a story”, but they will be badly formatted, at least speaking about markdown.
Though Medium is based on a business model where people pay to read exclusive content on this platform, when I write my content as many people do, I’m used to writing everything in Markdown format.
This is because Markdown is platform-agnostic. Provided that you have a “Markdown interpreter” you can see your content styled everywhere.
By letting people write in a plain text file on something like an old Mac, or even a Commodore 64, and share it in some way, you left the door open to recycling old hardware that probably was going to be left in the dust in a basement or straight to the dump.
You could even save your Markdown files to a floppy disk and load it into a 80s/90s computer
Being able to import your stories more comfortably, provides access to your platform, potentially increasing the number of people who want to write here.
However, it is understandable that you don’t want to people leave Medium: I don’t personally share this line of thoughts.
Cool editor = good editor?
Why do I criticize the Markdown editor so much?
It could be more intuitive: to write some source code by using a monospace font, we can use ``` on a newline and a textbox will appear.
This is similar to Markdown: that’s great, but Medium editor is a WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get) therefore I would expect that when you copy-paste and highlight the text, the option “format as code” would be available.
What about links? You should select text and click on the “link” icon: you can’t say in advance to create a link like you would with Markdown.
While aiming for simplicity and a distraction-free writing experience, writing articles can be frustrating for users who are more standardized editors. Speaking about code: although using a monospace font for code is clear once you get the hang of the triple backticks (```) or the “+” code block option, these functions feel more hidden than other editors.
Any action other than formatting text in bold, italics, or underlining, like inserting links, code blocks, and images, requires selecting text or navigating through a “+” menu.
While the editor’s clean, “distraction-free” design is appealing, the non-standard formatting options and limited Markdown support, make it tedious for users to work efficiently.
We can issue these problems by allowing Markdown or adding a few standard optional toolbar icons without cluttering the layout.
Code blocks
Let’s say we are writing a guide with some code inside: we cannot place a code block inside a bullet list, because the only possible moves are:
- Hit return: this creates a new numbered item. You can’t insert a code block within the item itself.
- Double enter: this creates a new line where you can insert a code block, but it breaks the list flow. After adding the code block, you’re stuck outside the list and can’t continue numbering
- Shift and enter: this lets you move to a new line within the same list item without breaking the flow, but you can’t add any additional formatting or a code block on that line.
The same thing happens for images as reported by Medium itself: you cannot include an image within a list without breaking the list.
This could be better: I’d like to create a numbered list for my guides or procedures and place images where I want.
Since editors are just a means to express ourselves, we should be able as free as we can be. An editor is just a tool; it shouldn’t control us. We use it to express our unique spirit.
Closing words
Medium’s editor has great potential, especially for people who want to jump in and write without fuss.
But for those who like a bit more control or are used to Markdown, it can feel frustrating — or a hunt for the right formatting option.
Let’s hope Medium takes steps to streamline and maybe even standardize things. With just a few tweaks, it could be a better experience.
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Originally published on medium.com on 5th November 2024, at 13:00