Although there are not many domestic Markdown software, they are of high quality, such as MWeb and MarkEditor, which have their own stable user base. After all, the users of such software are writing enthusiasts or even professional writers, and content is the most important thing, no one has nothing to do with their own document library.
So it seems that the Markdown market has been quiet for a long time, if not for the sudden change in Ulysses’ pricing strategy announced a few days ago.
Ulysses’ paid strategy seems to have upset everyone, and the internet has started talking about ‘what are the best Markdown tools’ again. It just so happens that, apart from some of the usual names, I found one that I had never heard of, Yu Writer.
Yu is also an independent Markdown editor developed by a Chinese, currently in beta, but already showing a mature side, both inside and out. In the words of the official website, Yu Writer is “a Markdown text editor where you can find the joy of writing”.
Beautiful design
In addition to the default native interface, Yu comes with three skins: Carbon, Lime and Night, each of which has a very attractive colour scheme, especially the night mode, which is not just black like some of the big names.
Eye-catching night mode
A flexible and customisable interface
Yu has done more than just skinning the interface, for example the toolbar, which doesn’t have all the icons in one place like many similar apps, but (presumably) takes its cue from Pages and Sketch, and it looks great too.
A beautifully arranged toolbar
Unfortunately for men like me, who are used to shortcuts and writing in full screen, the toolbar is hidden for a long time…
Small tools
Yu Writer offers a very intuitive way of inserting images, blocks of code and tables, so there is no need to remember so much ‘code’ – and of course, shortcuts are also supported.
Inserting tables via toolbar buttons
Image insertion is also very efficient, as shown in the image below. Yu Writer has a built-in image manager, so you can add all the images you need for your article at once and insert them on demand as you write. The thumbnail image of the image manager eliminates the need to switch back and forth between the Finder/File Manager and the software.
Image Manager
Another little surprise is that Yu Writer has reduced the usual right-hand preview window to a narrow strip, allowing the user to keep the visual focus on the writing area while still being able to glance at the results at any time, without taking up too much space. You can also drag and drop to enlarge it, or press ‘Command ⌘ + R’ to preview it full screen.
Show inserted images in the editing area on the right
There are many other features and details, such as post version logging and rollback, multiple format export, support for multiple static blogging platforms, etc., so I won’t go into them all. All in all, it’s definitely worth a try.
Yu Writer is currently in beta and there are some minor bugs, but they don’t affect its use.
