Wiki linking for Marked Share

Wiki links now work on . Type a note’s name in double brackets and, when someone reads the page, that name becomes a link to the matching document. The match stays inside the same library folder, so two notes called “Meeting” in different folders do not steal each other’s links.

Links that stay in the folder

The brackets stay in the Markdown you save. The share page is what rewrites them, which means a renamed note or a newly shared sibling shows up the next time the page is rendered. No republish required.

See [[Meeting notes]] for the recap.
The short version is in [[Meeting notes|the notes]].
Jump to [[Meeting notes#Decisions]].

[[Meeting notes]] links to the document whose name in that folder is “Meeting notes”. An alias after | is only the visible text. A #heading jumps to that heading on the target page.

Matching is case-insensitive when there is only one candidate. If two notes differ only by case, the exact spelling wins. A private note is linked for its owner. Everyone else still sees the brackets.

A missing note, if it is yours

When you’re signed in and looking at your own document, a wiki link with no match turns red. Click it and Marked Share creates a private note in the same folder and opens the editor with that title already filled in.

[[Follow up]]

If “Follow up” does not exist yet, that red link becomes a new note titled “Follow up”. Other readers still see [[Follow up]] as plain text. Once the note exists, the link is a normal share link — a private note still only links for the logged in owner, a public note becomes a public cross-link.

A list when you type [[

The editor knows the other documents in the current folder. Type [[ and a list pops up. Keep typing and the list narrows.

See [[Meet

That offers “Meeting notes” and anything else in the folder whose name contains “meet”. The list follows the folder selected on the document, so switching folders changes the suggestions.

Backlinks

Since I was working on wiki linking, I also added a backlink accumulator for wiki-linked documents. If a document is linked to by other documents, it gets a “Backlinks” tab on the right, which expands to a panel of linking documents when clicked.

Reference ids, both directions

Reference-style links got the same kind of help. If the document already has definitions, the editor can fill in the id while you are still inside the link.

See [the spec][spec] and [CommonMark][].

[spec]: https://example.com/spec

With the cursor in [the spec][|], the list is every [id]: url line in the document. The same list opens for an image, ![diagram][|]. Typing filters it, and choosing an id drops it in with the closing bracket.

The other direction is for the definition you have not written yet. Put a [ within three spaces of the start of a line and the list is every id used in the text that still needs a URL. That includes [label][id], image references, and collapsed links like [CommonMark][], whose id is the link text. Ids that already have a definition stay out of that list, and fenced code blocks are ignored.

So I can drop [some claim][src] in the paragraph, scroll down, type [, and pick src when I am ready to paste the URL.

Roadmap

These are just some quality of life improvements for Marked Share. I’m still waiting to see if it takes off and I have to start charging for premium features. My thought is that I’d charge other app developers a white label fee to be able to sync and publish, rather than requiring the end user to pay a separate subscription fee. I built this to add publishing to Marked 3, and wanted to offer that for free to existing users. And I wanted anyone to be able to read and review without needing an account. So I think a white label fee would be the best way to make it sustainable.

Honestly, it’s not costing me much to run right now, and it’s adding a valuable feature to my paid apps, so I’m not too worried about it at this point. The only thing that would really hurt my pocketbook is if people started uploading a lot of additional assets that I needed to host. We’ll see if it gets to that point.

I’m considering Share to be feature complete at this point. That’s not to say there won’t be constant improvements and new features, I just think it’s at a great 1.0 place. It’s stable and reliable. If you develop a Markdown app that could use publishing (or entire folder sync), please reach out. If you’re an end user who thinks Marked Share would fit well in an app you use, let me know!

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