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Show HN: Cleaner Markdown lang and static site generator (Shrimple)

3 points by usrbinenv 1y ago

90s_dev 1y ago
> a better, cleaner Markdown alternative Better and cleaner compared to what? What does this improve on? What pain points does it solve?
- usrbinenv 1y ago
  Markdown is unreadable as a source. This solves the problem of looking good and clean as a text document and not having to remember many rules (certainly less than Markdown) to write a valid Shrimple markup that compiles nicely to HTML. Another thing is a static site generator that's very nice for writing documentation sites -- it takes care of generating not just the html pages tree, but also inserts menu and navigation links in them correctly.
  - 90s_dev 1y ago
    The nice thing about MD is that it's a spec, separate from impls. If I were to use this, I'd want to install a node.js lib that renders it to HTML and has a plugin API for features you didn't think of but that I need and know how to implement myself. So I wouldn't tout the built-in-ssg as a feature, more of an ad hoc spec like perl markdown originally was. Also I commented with some feedback in another part of this post.
    - usrbinenv 1y ago
      Yeah, I get it. Technically, nothing prevents me from writing a formal spec (rules are rather simple too and most are listed in the README), but I just don't expect any kind of adoption, it was really just a tool for myself to ease the pain of writing docs. Thank you for the feedback.
- 90s_dev 1y ago
  Oh, I see. It's an alternative to Markdown itself. Interesting. Ambitious, but interesting. MD does have some serious warts. It would be nice if you could provide a shorter summary of the differences, mainly the pain points it solves and how it solves it. A few notes so far: * Markdown has [named link references] that clean up inline links a lot. I didn't know about them until recently. * How do you specify the language for code blocks so they can be syntax highlighted? That seems like a missing feature, and one I won't be able to work without. * I agree that header delims in Markdown seem literally backwards. ### seems like a more primary header than ## or #, and === more than --- when under the text. * I also agree that h4-6 are useless, but I would need h3 at least. This project is interesting, and I'd like to see it gain traction, at least in discussions. I started a similar experimental language in 90s.dev for similar reasons. [named link references]: https://github.com/sdegutis/90s.dev/compare/6d83a384e5aec81c6a73922ddb792028930b13ff%5E..de0ffee8a9ccb18a147aea95956bf59e66334e7e https://github.com/sdegutis/90s.dev/compare/6d83a384e5aec81c...
  - 90s_dev 1y ago
    Also, markdown-it (and probably other MD engines) has number-list-normalization. I think it's practically standard atp.
  - usrbinenv 1y ago
    > ### seems like a more primary header I really dislike this for headers, but also, this marker is only valid inside code blocks and is optional. > How do you specify the language for code blocks so they can be syntax highlighted? See above, with ###Go and then add Prism.js into your document.

3 points by usrbinenv 1y ago

> a better, cleaner Markdown alternative Better and cleaner compared to what? What does this improve on? What pain points does it solve?

usrbinenv 1y ago
Markdown is unreadable as a source. This solves the problem of looking good and clean as a text document and not having to remember many rules (certainly less than Markdown) to write a valid Shrimple markup that compiles nicely to HTML. Another thing is a static site generator that's very nice for writing documentation sites -- it takes care of generating not just the html pages tree, but also inserts menu and navigation links in them correctly.
- 90s_dev 1y ago
  The nice thing about MD is that it's a spec, separate from impls. If I were to use this, I'd want to install a node.js lib that renders it to HTML and has a plugin API for features you didn't think of but that I need and know how to implement myself. So I wouldn't tout the built-in-ssg as a feature, more of an ad hoc spec like perl markdown originally was. Also I commented with some feedback in another part of this post.
  - usrbinenv 1y ago
    Yeah, I get it. Technically, nothing prevents me from writing a formal spec (rules are rather simple too and most are listed in the README), but I just don't expect any kind of adoption, it was really just a tool for myself to ease the pain of writing docs. Thank you for the feedback.
90s_dev 1y ago
Oh, I see. It's an alternative to Markdown itself. Interesting. Ambitious, but interesting. MD does have some serious warts. It would be nice if you could provide a shorter summary of the differences, mainly the pain points it solves and how it solves it. A few notes so far: * Markdown has [named link references] that clean up inline links a lot. I didn't know about them until recently. * How do you specify the language for code blocks so they can be syntax highlighted? That seems like a missing feature, and one I won't be able to work without. * I agree that header delims in Markdown seem literally backwards. ### seems like a more primary header than ## or #, and === more than --- when under the text. * I also agree that h4-6 are useless, but I would need h3 at least. This project is interesting, and I'd like to see it gain traction, at least in discussions. I started a similar experimental language in 90s.dev for similar reasons. [named link references]: https://github.com/sdegutis/90s.dev/compare/6d83a384e5aec81c6a73922ddb792028930b13ff%5E..de0ffee8a9ccb18a147aea95956bf59e66334e7e https://github.com/sdegutis/90s.dev/compare/6d83a384e5aec81c...
- 90s_dev 1y ago
  Also, markdown-it (and probably other MD engines) has number-list-normalization. I think it's practically standard atp.
- usrbinenv 1y ago
  > ### seems like a more primary header I really dislike this for headers, but also, this marker is only valid inside code blocks and is optional. > How do you specify the language for code blocks so they can be syntax highlighted? See above, with ###Go and then add Prism.js into your document.