ghostwriter

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smaragdus
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ghostwriter

#1 Post by smaragdus »

Preamble
For years I have been searching for a good, free, portable markdown editor and some time ago I think I found it- ghostwriter is open-source, cross-platform and portable, it is customizable, the project is in active development.

Synopsis
ghostwriter is a Windows and Linux text editor for Markdown, which is a plain text markup format created by John Gruber. For more information about Markdown, please visit John Gruber’s website at http://www.daringfireball.net. ghostwriter provides a relaxing, distraction-free writing environment, whether your masterpiece be that next blog post, your school paper, or your NaNoWriMo novel. For a tour of its features, please visit the ghostwriter project page.

Features
  • Distraction-Free Writing
    Enjoy a distraction-free writing experience, including a full screen mode and a clean interface. With Markdown, you can write now, and format later.
  • Built-in Themes
    The built-in light and dark themes provide an aesthetic writing experience out of the box.
  • Live HTML Preview
    Preview your Markdown document in HTML. With the live preview, you can copy the HTML to paste into your blog, or export to another format. You can even set your own custom style sheet to see how your document will appear once it is posted on your website.
    The live preview will only update when you stop typing, so that you can continue to work on a large document without the application freezing.
  • Export to Multiple Formats
    Use the built-in processor, Sundown, to export to HTML. Alternatively, install any of the following to export to multiple formats in your preferred Markdown flavor:
    • Pandoc
    • MultiMarkdown
    • Discount
    • commonmark
    ghostwriter will automatically detect their installation, allowing you to export to HTML, Word, ODT, PDF, and more!
  • Navigation
    ghostwriter utilizes head-up displays (HUDs) to provide information and special actions. The Outline HUD facilitates navigating large documents. Simply click on a heading in the HUD to go to a different section of your document, including within the live preview.
  • Focus Mode
    Clicking on the "Focus" button in the lower right corner of the editor will enable Focus Mode, which highlights only the current text around the cursor while fading the rest. You can configure ghostwriter to highlight the current line, sentence, paragraph, or three lines.
  • Hemingway Mode
    Clicking on the "Hemingway" button in the lower right corner of the editor will disable your backspace and delete keys, creating a typewriter experience. This feature is especially useful if you want to avoid editing and force yourself to write.
  • Custom Theme Creation
    If the two built-in themes are not enough, you can create your own! With background image support, you can create the ambience you need for your writing.
  • Document and Session Statistics
    In addition to displaying a live word count at the bottom of the window, ghostwriter displays even more live statistics in its Document Statistics and Session Statistics HUDs.
  • Drag and Drop Images
    Easily create image URLs within your Markdown document by dragging and dropping an image from your file system into ghostwriter's editor.
  • Free and Open Source
    Over the years, I have greatly benefited from free and open source software. As such, I want to give something back to the community. Enjoy!
Links
Website
Project
Download
Wiki
Issues
Publisher
Softpedia
Softpedia
AlternativeTo

Downloads
Direct download links for ghostwriter version 1.6.2 (released on 2018-04-15): Images

ghostwriter - classic light theme:

Image

ghostwriter - classic light theme - preview:

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ghostwriter - classic dark theme:

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ghostwriter - classic dark theme - preview:

Image

ghostwriter - file:

Image

ghostwriter - edit:

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ghostwriter - format:

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ghostwriter - view:

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ghostwriter - preferences - general:

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ghostwriter - preferences - editor:

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ghostwriter - cheat sheet:

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ghostwriter - about:

Image

Portability
ghostwriter has a natively portable version:
Portable Mode
You can download the Windows Portable version of ghostwriter, or make your own on any OS. Just as with FocusWriter, simply create a folder named data in the same folder as the ghostwriter.exe or ghostwriter executable file (depending on the OS). The application will now use settings and themes in this folder. If you need to migrate existing themes you created while running in non-portable mode, simply copy them from the relevant folder below:
  • Windows: C:\Users\<your_user_name>\AppData\Roaming\ghostwriter\themes
  • Linux: /home/<your_user_name>/.config/ghostwriter/themes
  • MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/ghostwriter/themes
In fact with versions 1.6.0, 1.6.1, 1.6.2 there is no need to create data folder since it is included in the archive. ghostwriter automatically saves settings in INI file (ghostwriter.ini) inside data folder:

Code: Select all

ghostwriter\data\settings\ghostwriter\ghostwriter.ini
Instructions
  • Download the archive;
  • Extract the archive to a folder of your choice;
  • Run ghostwriter.exe;
Requirements
ghostwriter should run on Windows 7 or higher.

License
The source code for ghostwriter is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3. However, various icons and third-party FOSS code (i.e., Hunspell and Sundown) have different licenses compatible with GPLv3. Please read the COPYING files in the respective folders for the different licenses.
Note
ghostwriter is written in C++.
On my machine (Windows 8 x64) ghostwriter uses about 80-100 MB of RAM.

Details
File details for ghostwriter version 1.6.2 (released on 2018-04-15):

==

Archive
Name: ghostwriter-portable-v1.6.2.zip
File Size: 77444023 Byte(s) (73.86 MB)
Modified Date: 2018-04-16 02:09
MD5: e4bae917f0e3108dfed307400e968291
SHA1: c7f4db7ef8a51288855320817cd5604d5d918e93
SHA256: e8b69f817e88afa3f2ae3ed486aa6b9ce874a5872bac51cd0c3d7473e76dce6a
SHA512: 719ca503e1a72fb3ccbcfdd30ff83781df30ffc0667b1c987b179c8c8b971ba813322ee789fd3757b6b20968c34999a41d43a3f056ef891302860d43f8a8d1f4

==

Installer
Name: ghostwriter-v1.6.2-setup.exe
File Size: 55057438 Byte(s) (52.51 MB)
Modified Date: 2018-04-16 02:04
Version: 0.0.0.0
MD5: bf3a8232fada31864939c2c66e2f3ef4
SHA1: fcb832fa2487e1122cd0bf2ea79de5dfe1449c6c
SHA256: 9a8e9400dea05c1ae8fa2fe5d3eb89a20dfa58ef74727cf25995b7f4b7f10ce9
SHA512: 7fb3a4333c85f8dc149f956120243427b15d9558ad34a76a784b04f01b36a95c03646c7270a5cd81b9dee9b72262b47e3d780ca0ea093c3c51a71fa290064e19

==
Last edited by smaragdus on Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

hamasaki
Posts: 197
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:16 pm

Re: ghostwriter

#2 Post by hamasaki »

Been using it for ages, it`s pretty good.

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Midas
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Re: ghostwriter

#3 Post by Midas »

Really nice Markdown implementation, thank you. 8)

A couple of remarks from my brief testing...

- Ghostwriter wiki has a page for integration with extra document processors but, since it requires installation, it doesn't seem to apply to the portable version. Bummer.
- Disk cost for the extracted portable v1.6.2, after pruning unneeded UI languages and dictionaries, is almost 160MB.
-The default HTML preview is only shown with a vertical split (i.e., horizontal split is not an option).
- For some unbeknownst reason, your images in the OP above aren't showing in SeaMonkey Portable v2.49.2 -- although I can see them alright if I copy-paste the links or insert them in my post... EDIT: nope, upon restarting the browser, the Imgbox link doesn't show the image even in my own post until I deliberately visit the link. Something wrong with SM or settings, most likely.

Image
Last edited by Midas on Thu Apr 19, 2018 9:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

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FileHandler
Posts: 137
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 7:11 pm

Re: ghostwriter

#4 Post by FileHandler »

Just like Midas said, disk cost seems a bit hefty, but not really an issue with today's stick capacities.

Glad to have a self-contained markdown zenwriter that does not require installation and is not web-based.

Thank you so much.

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smaragdus
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Location: Aeaea

Re: ghostwriter

#5 Post by smaragdus »

@Midas

The problem was not in your browser but with the provider I was using- imgbox, thank you for notifying me. I am tempted to call it a shitty service but perhaps this is a temporary issue. When I was trying to open my own images I was getting this error:
Forbidden
We're sorry, the server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it
Anyway, I re-uploaded all the images to another provider and edited all the image links. I am running short of reliable image hosting services, so often my work has been ruined and now I cannot recommend a single trustworthy image hosting provider,

billon
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Re: ghostwriter

#6 Post by billon »

imgur, no?

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smaragdus
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Re: ghostwriter

#7 Post by smaragdus »

@billon
Imgur resizes images without asking/notifying the user.

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Midas
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Re: ghostwriter

#8 Post by Midas »

smaragdus wrote: @Midas

The problem was not in your browser but with the provider I was using- imgbox, thank you for notifying me. I am tempted to call it a shitty service but perhaps this is a temporary issue.
Thanks for letting me know. Kind of relieved. No further tweaking needed. :mrgreen:

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smaragdus
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Location: Aeaea

Re: ghostwriter

#9 Post by smaragdus »

@Midas

It seems that the problem with imgbox embedded images was a temporary issue. I contacted the support and got a response soon which surprised me. I checked previous forum threads where I used imgbox and all embedded images are visible now.

Since you are the markdown specialist here- have you found a better editor than ghostwriter (I mean portable one)?

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Midas
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Re: ghostwriter

#10 Post by Midas »

I wouldn't call myself a specialist... more like an obsessed fan. ;)

My current solution is to resort to whatever text editor I feel comfortable writing with and just use the easy to recall Markdown syntax. Two problems with such a strategy: no easy preview and no ready integration with my preferred document processor (Pandoc, BTW).

Having said that, Textosaurus fixes the first issue, and I might be able to fix the second with extra tweaking; dunno, haven't tried.

BTW, recently updated MadEdit-mod also seems to have Markdown capabilities (see viewtopic.php?t=772).

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FileHandler
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Re: ghostwriter

#11 Post by FileHandler »

smaragdus wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:55 am ... a better editor than ghostwriter (I mean portable one)?
I cannot judge wether it's better, have not done any testing, either, whether it is truly portable or not:
https://github.com/cloose/CuteMarkEd
http://cloose.github.io/CuteMarkEd/

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smaragdus
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Re: ghostwriter

#12 Post by smaragdus »

@FileHandler

To my knowledge CuteMarkEd is not portable:
...currently CuteMarkEd is using default settings read\write routines implemented by QSettings class. On Windows platform by default it will save settings to system registry, that is why when you are moving application folder to another Windows machine you are not transferring application's settings within this folder.
source

and it may be abandoned- the latest release- 0.11.3, is from 2016-03-28.

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FileHandler
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Re: ghostwriter

#13 Post by FileHandler »

Thanks for clarifying. You are right. Guess I must have fooled myself by running it from a stick plugged into the same machine where it had been installed previously.

WriteMonkey is another one I had used for a few years, not so much for markdown per se, but for writing in general. Back then it had the best typewriter sounds imo, and it offered a quick way of injectig custom CSS for checking out different rendering previews (Ctrl+Shift+E brought up the Export-dialog with all my custom style sheets).
It is not portable, either (despite its claims), keeps settings under %appdata%.
Old versions relied on plain text files, the current version however, uses a new database design which I don't like at all.

shnbwmn
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Re: ghostwriter

#14 Post by shnbwmn »


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smaragdus
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Re: ghostwriter 1.7.0

#15 Post by smaragdus »

ghostwriter at version 1.7.0, changes:

ghostwriter 1.7.0
New Features
  • Added light and dark built-in themes based on the community Ulysses III theme Plainstraction.
  • @sbrl added a new Github Dark built-in stylesheet for use with the live preview.
  • Live preview has been optimized to show the preview for typed characters immediately on smaller documents.
  • Added ODT and EPUB 3 as export options for MultiMarkdown 6.
  • Theme selection dialog now displays a grid instead of a list.
Fixes
  • The menu bar is now hidden again in full screen mode when the user presses Alt+Tab to switch to a different application.
  • Fixed issue #354 to disable hard line breaks for Pandoc's Github-flavored Markdown.
  • Worked around issue in Qt 5.11 where changing the theme causes the app to crash.
  • Worked around issue in Qt 5.10 where opening a new document with a document already loaded can cause the app to crash.

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